- Passage plan to be amended / revised as required.
- Safety meeting held, all hod’s notified, masters standing orders revised.
- Engines on stand by & man on steering.
- Ensure both steering motors are on.
- Ensure radars operating continuously & tuned for peak performance.
- Communication equipment should be reliable & working at peak performance.
- Echo sounder should be running at all times.
- Additional look out to be posted & alert lookout kept.
- Ensure searchlights on the bridge wings are working properly.
- All weather reports to be received & plotted on the relevant chart.
- Level of ballast tanks to be reduced to 90% so as to account for water expansion. Ensure stability is good.
- Drain all fire lines, fresh water lines, steam lines, tank cleaning heater, deck airlines, I.G. lines, C.O.W lines & cargo lines.
- All suction strainers, seperators to be drained & cleaned.
- Use antifreeze in the P.V. breaker, ODMCS fresh water tank & ballast tanks.
- Apply low temperature grease to all moving parts, wires, lifeboat davits, sheaves, hatch covers & winches.
- Use burlap lagging of jute to prevent icing.
- Spread rock salt on deck as it may be slippery due to formation of thin ice.
- Commence heating for the following:
- Fwd & aft whistle signals.
- Fwd & aft hydraulic tanks of mooring winches, v/v’s & pumps.
- Heater’s in cranes.
- Steam heating in fuel tanks, cargo tanks & freshwater tanks.
- Radar scanners.
- Bridge front windows.
- Accommodation.
- Steam winches.
- Deck seal
- Lifeboat fuel tank & fresh water.
- Emergency steering hydraulic header tank.
- Ensure proper winter gear available for the crew. The seriousness of frostbites discussed with all personnel.
- Ensure steam water inlets have steam heating coils or compressed air blowing pipes.
- Avoid any accumulation of seawater on deck.
- Portable steam hoses to be rigged & kept handy for external heating.
- Ice accumulation can occur on rigging & structures which can effect stability hence the same should be checked regularly. Also personnel to be aware that the accumulation can fall off on deck & so to be careful when working within these areas.
- Crew to use catwalk / walkways where ever possible, or else rig deck safety line from fwd to aft on both port & stbd side.
- Main sea water recirculation system to be regulated to maintain set values at ~ 250
- Enclosed fresh water cooling system to have anti freeze.
- Check specification of stern tube l.o, if antifreeze additives required.
- Change over sea suction from high to low.
- Ensure watch keeping officers have thoroughly read & understood np100 (mariners handbook)-chapter 6 & 7, relevant sailing directions, routing charts.
- Master to make a report with the following information on encountering air temperatures below freezing associated with gale force winds causing severe ice accummulation on ships:
- Air & sea temp
- Force & direction of the wind
- Position of the ship
- Gmt & date of observation
