A trawler skipper has been fined in the Netherlands after he left his post to go to the toilet moments before his boat hit a tanker.
The accident involving the fishing vessel Joris Senior and a tanker named as the Golden Daisy happened on the night of 28 September 2022, the Maritime Disciplinary Court of the Netherlands was told.
The Amsterdam court said the Dutch-flag boat hit the anchored tanker, holing its hull and spilling 2 cbm of sludge from a tank off Ijmuiden.
Seacon Shipping has a 34,800-dwt product carrier called the Golden Daisy built in 2021.
The company has been contacted for comment.
The Joris Senior was steaming back to the port after a week of fishing in the North Sea.
The 42-metre fishing vessel (built 1992) suffered damage to the bow.
All damage was well above the waterline, the judgment said, and there were no injuries.
At the time of the accident, the trawler crew consisted of six people.
The skipper was a substitute for the regular master and was officer of the watch.
‘Should have done better’
In a statement to the court, the stand-in captain said: “I definitely did not fall asleep. I did have to go to the toilet and then left the bridge for about five minutes, without anyone else being there.”
He explained that the usual skipper had made the voyage preparations.
“I did not follow that course completely. I could pass through the anchorage area, because it was not busy and then you arrive a bit earlier,” he added.
“I saw the tanker and was supposed to pass 0.3 miles behind. When I came up I was sitting against it. I do not know what went wrong. At the moment I went down I did not realise that I was two miles away from the tanker,” he told the court.
He admitted he “should have done better”.
“It was unwise of me to leave the bridge with so many people asleep on board. I am aware that it could have ended much worse. I acknowledge what you say that 0.3 miles is too little with this current,” the statement read.
He was fined €3,000 ($3,200), of which €1,500 is conditional on no further offences within two years.
“I do not yet know how I am going to pay the fine. Financially, things do not look rosy. I have already received a fine from the public prosecutor for not having the correct papers,” the skipper said.
He has a family with two children and described his health as “not good”.
“I will no longer be able to sail as a crew member,” he added.
