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Report: Port worker died entangled in ropes
A mooring fatality at the ferry terminal in Cairnryan on July 23, 2024, at 7 a.m.. occurred, though the victimwas following reasonable safety rules. a newly-concluded sheriff's concluded. John Alexander Hamilton, 60, was working at the Loch Ryan Port dock at Cairnryan. He had worked for Stena for 40 years. It was the end of his shift, and he was helping the 'Stena Superfast VII' to unmoor and depart alongside with a colleague, Michael Hughes, who had a similar level of experience. The quay at Loch Ryan was relatively new, having been built as a replacement facility in the 2010s. It has auto-docking arms to speed up mooring and unmooring at the stern, where the ro/ro ramp was located. One of the arms was not working that morning. As was procedure, the master of the ferry directed the use of extra mooring lines at the stern to substitute for the mooring arms. As the vessel prepared to depart, it's crew paid out on the mooring winches, and Hamilton pulled two lines off of the aft-most bollard, next to the docking arm structure. Following company procedure, he lifted both lines by the affixed tails on the eyes, one in each hand. He walked the eyes towards the edge of the quay as the crew winched in, as it was a standard practice at the pier in order to keep the line out of the water and minimise the risk of fouling the props. As this evolution proceeded, Hughes noticed that his colleague was getting much closer to the edge of the quay than he normally would. As he neared the edge, Hamilton said something to the effect of "hold on" at normal volume, but did not appear distressed. Hughes perceived something wrong and shouted for the winch operator to stop. The winch operator let go of the controls to stop the machinery, but the mooring winch took 2-4 seconds to wind down, and in that time it continued to pull in the line. Hamilton was hoisted off his feet, pulled into the air and over the frame of the docking arm, then dropped about 4-5 meters into the water. It was believed that Hamilton had become somehow entangled in one or both of the five-foot-long tails affixed to the lines' eyes. The tails recoiled into the air after he fell, having released his weight. Hamilton's PFD inflated when he hit the water, as designed, but it did not right him. He floated face-down until Hughes climbed into the water and swam over to hold him upright. Together they waited by the quayside ladder for 15 minutes until the ferry's rescue boat arrived. Hamilton's neck was broken from the fall, and he may have inhaled water; he did not recover, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Following the accident, the quay's managers took action to mitigate risk. The tails on the eyes of the mooring lines were shortened; all possible obstructions that could catch on a line on the quay were ground down or removed; and the policy of walking the eye to the edge of the dock was abandoned. A white "no-go" zone was painted onto the dock between the bollards and the edge, and dockers were instructed to stay clear of it - and crewmembers were directed to halt winching if anyone entered it. The tradeoff required accepting a certain level of risk that lines could go into the water, but the management deemed this acceptable.
Ferry assisted in rescue operation for distressed yacht in storm
On Jan 11, 2026, the 'Stena Superfast VII' responded to a yacht which was reported in difficultynorth of Loch Ryan, being adrift and unable to maintain control in gale force conditions. At 5.59 p.m.the Stranraer RNLI’s inshore lifeboat (ILB) was tasked by the HM Coastguard to assist the yacht, which had one person onboard, following a failure of its anchor line. The crew of the 'Stena Superfast VII' assisted by maintaining a continuous visual watch on the yacht and providing accurate position updates, enabling the lifeboat to locate the vessel swiftly in reduced visibility. On arrival, the ILB crew found the yacht rolling heavily and drifting beam-on to the seas, with no effective means of control. The lifeboat crew established control lines and brought the yacht head-to-sea, a critical manoeuvre that stabilised the vessel and significantly reduced the immediate danger to the skipper. Given the size of the yacht and the strength of the winds and seas, the RNLI Girvan’s all-weather lifeboat was requested to provide a safe and controlled tow to harbour. Once on scene, the tow was transferred, and the yacht was towed to the Stranraer Marina. With the assistance of HM Coastguard teams ashore, the yacht was secured safely and the casualty was brought to safety, bringing the incident to a successful conclusion. Report with photo: https://dng24.co.uk/crews-battle-gales-to-rescue-yacht/#google_vignette
Ferry sheltered off Antrim in storm Darragh
Passengers aboard the 'Stena Superfast VII' have been stuck on a ferry for over 12 hours off the coast of Northern Ireland after departing on Dec 6, 2024, amid Storm Darragh. The ship which left Cairnryan port in Dumfries and Galloway at 1 a.m. has been forced to take shelter on the Antrim coast until conditions had improved. Coming into Belfast Lough, the ship turned, and the captain announced it was too unsafe to come into Belfast. The ship only berthed in Belfast once conditions had improved and it was deemed safe to do so with a delay of 13 hours.
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