Engine room flooding as the name indicates, means filling up of the engine room space with water. Engine room flooding can affect the watertight integrity of ship.
Action to be taken During Flooding
- Call for maximum manpower to tackle the situation
- The sooner you find the fault the better
- Start the other circulating system and isolate the leaking pump, pipe, cooler etc.
- Close inlet and outlet valves of the affected system to stop the leak
- Inform chief engineer regarding the leak and follow the instructions from him
- Put a notice or placard regarding leaking equipment or system and trip the breaker until repairs have been done
- In case of any tank leakage, start transferring the excess content from that tank to any other tank and try to minimize it as much as possible
- Tank should not be used until cement box or welding has taken place or repairs have been done
2) In case of leakage from Overboard Valve
- If the leakage is after the valve and if the valve is holding, shut the valve if the system involved for that valve permits normal operation of the ship with the valve closed
- If the valve is not holding then identify the leak. It may be from the valve stem gland or flange joint; try to repair the leak
- If system for that valve can be isolated without disturbing the normal operation of the ship, put a blank in the valve
- If the repair is temporary then when ship reaches the port, call clivers to blank the valve opening from outside and carry out permanent repair
3) Flooding due to crack in the hull or small hole
- In this case, as soon as you find the leak, call for help from nearest coastal state because if the leakage is more, the ship's stability will be affected
- By all means, the leakage has to be minimized and finally stopped
- If the leak is not big enough, then cement box is to be put in place of the leak and repairs are to be done accordingly
- In case of leakage due to damage from any accident like collision or grounding, there is nothing much that can be done as the opening in the bulkhead is large and there is no chance of stopping the leak. In such cases, the captain has to decide whether the ship is a safe place to stay or not and decision for abandoning the ship has to be made
- In case of abandon ship signal announcement, the crew should muster to respective lifeboat and abandon ship operation should be carried out
- For any of the above reasons, if the water level ingress in the engine room is very high, open the emergency bilge ejector valve with consent of the chief engineer and pump out the water overboard. Entry of the same is to be made in Oil record book (ORB) with date, time, and position of the ship and reason of direct discharge with signature of officer involved in operation, chief engineer, and master
References
A Pocket Guide To Fixed Fire Fighting Systems and Emergency Procedures For Ship’s Engine Room (Author: Marine Insight)
