Neither the Solong nor the Stena Immaculate had a dedicated lookout on the bridge when the Solong crashed into the other vessel in the North Sea on March 10, a Marine Accident Investigation Branch report has revealed.

Rule 5 of COLREGS says quite clearly that ‘every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision’.