Black Out Procedure

Blackout onboard ship can lead to big disaster manly while at sea passage and
undergoing rough weather or during ship manoeuvring in port at propinquity of heavy

traffic, shallow and break waters.
Black out onboard vessel is when she loses total power generation system, which leads
to stoppage of all pumps, propulsion system, lights, etc. In such case, they ship has no
control till the recovery of power. No one pray for such incident, but sometimes it
happens either due to human error, equipment malfunction, or due to bad fuel supplied
to run the auxiliary engines.
What cause ship to go block out?

As mentioned above, there are several issues that may lead to vessel black out, some
of the major ones are as follows:
 Human error: manly marine engineers might understand this better, it

could be by shutting down wrong fuel, water or air valve, which is in
connection with the running machinery. In Morden engines, safety trips
are attached to protect the engine from explosion, parts damage, and that
of the operators safety. When cooling water valve shut for example, the
engine temperature rises very fast and once alarm sounds and no action
taken, next will be shutdown.
 Equipment failure: working mechanism can’t speak nor repair itself.
Therefore attention need to be paid to all running machineries to note
down when wrong sounds or miss behaviour starts. In such case failure
maybe be prevented and black out will have it distance. Example of
equipments that may cause black out are fuel or lubrication oil pump
stoppage, fuel regulator (governor) malfunction, circuit breaker
malfunction, etc.
 Bad fuel supplied to ship: ship bunkering is a thing to pay good attention
toward. Sometimes people who supply fuel wish to make more profit, but
forgot the difficulty they are to create to the ship engineers and the crew
onboard. When a fuel contain water or mix with wrong chemical, all
injection valves and fuel pump may get damage, causing the engine to
stop.
Blackout and recovery mode by James
What are the possible casualties to experience if ship
goes black out at sea?
Vessel stability is one of the import issue to consider when we talk about sailing. Since
she loses total control during black out, it’s very possible ; to lost cargo at sea during
rough weather (storms), load shifting which can lead to ship capsize, collision to
rocks or with another ship, grounding and sinking, etc.
With all of the above mentioned, they are all pointing to life and property lost risks.
Therefore to reduce these risks, quick recovery is the best practice in case blackout
happens. That is why ship crews mostly engine room, need to know there way to an
important areas even darkness.
Do we conduct blackout recovery drills onboard ship?

In the oldest days, blackout drills are conducted to have crews get familiar with the
passage ways in darkness. But recently, there’s no law enforcement that mandated
such drill. But in fire drills, ship familiarisation(when newly join the vessel),safety
equipment and usage drills, all crews can get familiar with locations and get ready for
quick responses during such emergency. Personally, when taking crews manly
engineers on ship or engine room familiarisation, it’s important to let them know more
about quick recovery system for the ship power peradventure it happens during first 7
days onboard or contract time.
What are the things to note while under going engine
room familiarisation?
When an engine room team newly join the ship, the handover routine is being carried
out. But since the fellow (new comer) is new to the environment or system, about 60%
of what his or her mate will show maybe remembered while 40% might be forgotten.
Many marine companies do have some policy regarding ship familiarisation, ranging
from 7-14 days onboard. After the completion of this period, a complete checklist will be
given to the newly join crew to sign and signature of the trainer will also be taken, then a
copy sent to the head office with one copy file onboard.
During the engine room familiarisation, it’s important to note firstly exits, why? because
it links to your personal safety, and that of the ship. Secondly, location of engine room
equipments and accessories. Thirdly, operations of engine room machinery and tools.
On like fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, and ignition), these three points ( exit, location and
operations) are the major focusing areas for a successful engine room familiarisation.
Once all of the above mentioned observed, it’s easier to solve any problems that may
arise during your watch without any panic. However, there are other things associated
with black out problems which also has to be noted.
Action to take when your ship goes black

 Firstly do not panic, emergency generator will start automatically and give
light in few minutes. But if fails to start in 0.5 seconds -2 minutes
( depends on set timing) then something is wrong, proceed to next steps.
 Stop the running engine (if engine is still running) because no cooling will
be there, and may get gaskets damage.
 Call other engineers for assistance and inform either Chief engineer or
2nd engineer.
 Proceed to emergency generator room and start manually (if not started
automatically), then take on load, once power comes up, keep the power
switch to auto.
 Start emergency fuel pump to supply fuel to the main auxiliary engine,
check fuel pressure to make sure all is normal.
 Start any of the available auxiliary engine and proceed to power control
panel.
 Close the main circuit breaker by pressing a push button or key, to get the
main power supply connected. Don’t worry there is a provision for auto
disconnecting MCB (main circuit breaker) from ECB(emergency circuit
breaker).
 Now your main power will be in, quickly reset all alarms and start all
cooling pumps, boiler feed pump (if any) and air supply vent fan.
 Stop the emergency generator manually and keep the button on auto.
 Start main auxiliary engine fuel pumps and change over back from
emergency fuel supply to main.
 Check all parameters and take rounds
 Now, if your main propulsion engine was running, restart again by
following main engine starting procedure.
 Welcome back 🙂
Noted, all of the above has to be done as fast as possible. Since boilers are already
pressurised and required feed water, main propulsion in stopped without proper
cooling,etc. It’s important to reach to there demands as soon as possible.

Black Out Procedure

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Black Out Procedure

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Black Out Procedure

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Blackout onboard ship can lead to big disaster manly while at sea passage and

undergoing rough weather or during ship manoeuvring in port at propinquity of heavy

What cause ship to go block out?

 Human error: manly marine engineers might understand this better, it

Do we conduct blackout recovery drills onboard ship?

Action to take when your ship goes black

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.