A delivery truck that rolled over on a Gozo ferry was overloaded and not adequately secured to the deck, according to a report on the incident last January tabled in Parliament by Gozo Minister Anton Refalo yesterday.
Signed by Gozo Channel’s senior engineering and maintenance manager Sammy Grech, it said the truck did not have dedicated and proper lashing points and could not have been adequately secured to the deck.
It was also loaded to a height and weight more than permissible, thus shifting the centre of gravity higher. Once the cargo shifted to one side, the truck became unstable and, with the forces generated by the rolling ship entering Mġarr harbour, the cargo’s centre of gravity moved from the truck’s centre line.
The space between the cargo of melamine piles and the truck’s side was not blocked, and considering the ease with which such sheets could slide, even small forces are enough to shift the cargo inside, in spite of the lashing webs pressing the chipboard sheets to the truck’s flatbed.
The truck could have been refused boarding in view of the adverse conditions – force 6 to 7 westerly to southwesterly winds, locally force 7 to 8, with the sea rough and becoming very rough – but especially if it had been known that the bottom chipboard sheets were melamine, with their low friction coefficient and sliding ease.
Nine minutes after the MV Gaudos ferry left Ċirkewwa, the bridge was informed that the melamine was shifting and the master altered course to reduce the rolling.
As the vessel approached Mġarr, the master had to alter course to prepare to enter harbour, thus exposing the vessel to the full force of the westerly wind and swell. When the vessel rolled heavily to starboard, the truck rolled over and came to rest on the starboard bulkhead.
The report recommended that additional lashing equipment, such as jacks, should be considered, while inadequately loaded vehicles could be refused boarding. Shippers were to ensure that vehicles leaving their warehouses were loaded according to manufacturers’ instructions.