Failed Rudder Indicator Fooled Pilot Into Running Aground

On April 9, 2022, the bulker Hagen Oldendorff turned to port and ran aground in the narrow entrance channel at Port Hedland, Australia. The rudder angle indicator on the bridge had short-circuited, and the pilot had run the ship aground in response to a "rudder failure" that did not in fact exist, according to the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB).

At about 0045 on the morning of April 9, the Hagen Oldendorff departed the pier at Port Hedland with a load of iron ore in her holds. 45 minutes later, she was outbound in the dredged outer channel, making seven knots. In the tight confines of the channel, the casualty sequence unfolded in less than three minutes. 

At 0137:49, the pilot and bridge team heard "clicking sounds" from an electrical compartment on the bridge, and the rudder angle indicators went dark. At that moment, the ship was swinging to starboard at a rate of about four degrees per minute. To counteract the swing, the pilot gave a rudder order of port 20 degrees and ordered the aft escort tug to pull the stern to starboard. He ordered the helmsman to use non-follow-up steering to execute the helm order. 

At 0138:10, the pilot told the aft tug's master that a "rudder failure" had occurred. This was inaccurate, and at that moment, the ship's swing to starboard had largely been checked, according to ATSB. However, the rudder remained over at 20 degrees to port, and the ship began swinging to port. As the helmsman continued to apply non-follow-up steering commands, the rudder angle continued to increase, reaching 27 degrees to port. 

The pilot responded as though the rudder had failed, and ordered tug maneuvers to counteract the port swing, which was increasing. He ordered "stop engines" at 0139:24, and the swing peaked and began falling. The rudder was still over to port and stayed there until the ship's master questioned the pilot's helm commands, at which point the pilot ordered "hard to starboard" and ordered the engine astern. 

Even with all assist tugs pulling, reverse thrust and rudder hard to starboard, it was too late to prevent a grounding. At 0140:34, the Oldendorff's hull contacted the slope of the channel edge at a speed of about six knots, dragged along the bottom for 1,500 feet, and breached the number one and two port side ballast tanks.

Five minutes after grounding, the ship's master correctly diagnosed that the rudder angle indicator was not working, and he informed the pilot. The local steering controls in the engine room were engaged, additional assist tugs arrived, and the Hagen Oldendorff transited out to an anchorage for inspection. 

Flooding in the number one and two ballast tanks was discovered later that morning, and the bulker began to develop a trim by the head. A dive inspection found that the hull had been breached in two locations, with the first hole measuring about two feet by three feet and the second hole about one foot square. There was extensive damage to hull plating and structural members over a 150-foot-long section where the ship had made contact with the channel's edge. Temporary repairs were carried out by the 18th, and the ship departed for China for a drydocking. 

A post-accident inspection determined that a motor had shorted out in one of the six rudder angle indicators on the bridge, tripping a breaker. That single breaker powered all of the rudder angle indicators, so all went dark at once. For the bridge team, this was evidence of a steering failure, and "the possibility of a rudder angle indicator failure was probably not considered," ATSB concluded. 

ATSB found that Hagen Oldendorff’s bridge equipment was fully compliant with all existing SOLAS and class requirements for safety. None of the existing rules require measures to protect the ship's rudder angle indication systems against a single point of failure - like a tripped breaker - nor do they require any alarms to notify the bridge team of a power failure affecting the indicators. The agency recommended that the class society, flag state and port state work with IACS on ways to address this rare but serious problem.