Pascal Paoli: A Trailer That Wasn't as Stopped as It Looked

Port of Marseille, 21 March 2013 — 15:20

Pascal Paoli, a French-flagged Ropax ferry operated by SNCM on the Corsica run, was loading cargo before her evening departure. On the vehicle deck, trailers were being positioned and lashed — routine work, done by an experienced crew: the ship's own deck officers, dockers, and staff from SNCM's dedicated port-assistance service, known informally as 'la corvée'.

What Happened

A second trailer was being reversed into position on the deck by a tractor unit, guided by hand signals — the deck was too noisy for verbal instruction over the ventilation, generator, and equipment noise. The ship's cargo officer (the 'capitaine d'armes') stood to the tractor's left, directing the manoeuvre; a deckhand stood at the trailer's rear-left. A young port-assistance crewman — 22 years old, on board 12 days — stood back behind the safety barrier, as he should have. The tractor stopped, the trailer's front roughly level with the one already in place. It looked done.

Seeing it stationary, the young crewman climbed over the safety barrier — over 1.2 metres high — and positioned himself at the trailer's rear to start rigging the lashing straps. Moments later, the cargo officer noticed something the crewman couldn't see from where he stood: an internal curtain, meant to separate the open deck from the enclosed garage space, couldn't close because of how the trailer sat. He ordered the tractor to reverse. The crewman, not expecting the trailer to move again, couldn't get clear in time — he was crushed at the abdomen between the ship's safety barrier and the trailer's bumper bar. The tractor driver felt the impact and stopped immediately; a deckhand, alerted by the crewman's shouts, ordered the tractor forward again to free him. He was taken ashore to hospital within the hour.

What the Investigation Found

Nothing about the operation was unusual that day — experienced personnel, standard procedure, ordinary conditions. But BEAmer's investigation identified real, compounding factors: the garage deck alternates between bright exterior light and shadowed interior sections, making it genuinely harder to read what's happening at a glance; the space is loud enough that ear protection is recommended during cargo operations, which itself limits communication to hand signals and visual checks; and trailer lengths aren't standardised, so a declared length doesn't always match reality — all of which make ‘it looks stopped’ a less reliable signal than it should be.

The Real Lesson

The crewman made a reasonable judgement based on what he could see: the trailer had stopped, so it was safe to approach. What he couldn't see — the curtain that wouldn't close — was exactly the information that changed the decision. He crossed into the danger zone on a visual read, not on a confirmed 'all clear' from the person actually controlling the manoeuvre.

Check Your Vessel

• Deck ratings and cargo crew: When working around vehicle or trailer movements, do you wait for an explicit signal from whoever's directing the manoeuvre before crossing a safety barrier — not just judge it by whether things look stopped?
• Cargo/loading officers: In noisy, visually broken-up spaces like a garage deck, is there an agreed, unambiguous hand signal for ‘hold position — do not approach’ that everyone present actually knows?
• All crew: Hearing protection that blocks verbal warning as well as noise is a real trade-off — has your vessel considered a visual warning (light, flag, signal) to back up hand signals in high-noise cargo spaces?

Source: BEAmer (Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer, France) — Rapport d'enquête simplifié, Accident du travail maritime survenu le 21 mars 2013 à Marseille lors du chargement à bord du roulier mixte Pascal Paoli, published April 2014.