ATSB: Fatigue and Mechanical Characteristics Contributed to MPV Everest Fire

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report on the fire incident aboard the Bahamas-flagged MPV Everest during an Antarctic resupply voyage found that inappropriate engineering watchkeeping practices and characteristics of the ship’s integrated automation system contributed to the fire. The fire broke out in the vessel’s port-side engine room while it was travelling to Hobart after resupplying Australia’s Davis and Mawson research stations in east Antarctic. The engine room was isolated and the fire extinguished, and the vessel was able to maintain power using its separate starboard engine room. The vessel was carrying 72 expeditioners and 37 crew, and was diverted to Fremantle where it was met by an offshore supply vessel from Western Australia.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) emphasized the unique hazards faced by ships operating in the harsh and remote Arctic and Antarctic environments. The investigation found that the fire started when the port fuel oil settling tank overflowed into the port engine room exhaust ventilation casing and the engine room below. The ATSB concluded that inappropriate engineering watchkeeping practices and characteristics of the ship’s integrated automation system, among other factors, reduced the effectiveness of tank alarm(s) leading up to the overflow. The findings also revealed that the ship’s manager, Fox Offshore, did not adequately prepare the vessel for operations in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, and that there was a lack of engine room fire drills.

After the incident, modifications were made to the ship’s settling tank air pipes and other pipes in the engine room exhaust ventilation casings, and the ship’s owner commissioned a report into the incident. The ship’s manager was changed, and a new safety management system was implemented, requiring that fire drills be planned and conducted in a realistic manner. The Australian Antarctic Division also instructed the manager and operator of RSV Nuyina, Serco, to review the findings of the ATSB investigation to ensure similar circumstances do not occur. This was not the first fire incident on board MPV Everest, as a small fire had also occurred in the ship’s battery room in late January 2021.

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