GUILTY port chiefs Clydeport had a near-miss warning involving the Flying Phantom seven years before three men perished on board the doomed vessel.

But bosses of the harbour authority failed to implement adequate safety procedures following the incident, which was almost identical to the one in 2007 which claimed the lives of Greenock’s Stephen Humphreys, Gourock man Eric Blackley and their colleague Robert Cameron, of Houston.

Full details of the revelation emerged at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday just minutes after Clydeport pled guilty to the charges against it.

Flying Phantom had been towing a large Egyptian cargo ship, the Abu Egila, in similar weather conditions towards Glasgow seven years previously when she ran aground amid danger of ‘girting’ — being pulled over and capsized.

However, senior Clydeport personnel at a meeting in Greenock’s Tontine Hotel in early 2001 decided there were ‘no circumstances envisaged in which the tug should release the tow’ rope.

Prosecuting Advocate Depute, Gillian Wade QC, told the High Court yesterday: “What constituted an emergency was not defined at the meeting.” Subsequently, the Flying Phantom was towing the giant 225-metre long Red Jasmine bulk carrier — the largest ship to have visited the River Clyde for around 20 years — when the tug capsized and sank on 19 December 2007.

The accident happened as the Phantom was sailing virtually blind in heavy fog, apart from weak radar signals, with her speed decreasing in relation to the Red Jasmine, which caused the tow rope to slacken, leaving her prone to girting.

Both vessels — using the same narrow channel of water as in the Abu Egila accident — had passed a buoy marker off Greenock’s Ocean Terminal which indicates a ‘point of no return’ on the route towards the King George V dock in Glasgow.

A hushed courtroom heard of a series of VHF radio messages between the two vessels during which the pilot of the Red Jasmine asked the Flying Phantom to change her position on seven occasions. The tug later reported she had ran aground which prompted a message from Red Jasmine for her to ‘let go’ the tow rope, to which the tug responded: “Will do”.

It was to be her last known transmission.

Despite a button being activated to release the tow rope there was a fatal mechanical delay of up to eight seconds — not previously identified by the tug’s owner Svitzer Marine — before the line would actually disengage.

Advocate Depute Ms Wade QC told the court: “Consequently the tug release mechanism did not operate before the tug girted.

“The classification societies do not have any standards in place to specify the time within which a tow line should release…” Although the Flying Phantom reported she had ran aground, data has shown that she was still moving at a speed of 2.2 knots compared to the recorded 5.5 knots of the Red Jasmine, which was laden with a cargo of animal feed, giving her an overall weight at the time of 77,000 tons.

Tug skipper Mr Humphreys was a 33-year-old married man with an eight-month-old baby daughter and two stepsons; deckhand Mr Blackley, 57, was married with a son and a daughter; and engineer Mr Cameron, 65, had a wife and three daughters.

Relatives of the dead men listened intently from the back of the court to the narrative of how their loved ones lost their lives, but politely declined to comment afterwards.

Crewman Brian Aitchison, who was 37 at the time of the tragedy, was the only survivor.

He managed to flee the wheelhouse and jump into the freezing water just moments before the boat went over. The Red Jasmine meanwhile continued on her journey to Glasgow. Advocate Depute Ms Wade said: “Those on the Red Jasmine appeared unaware that the Flying Phantom had girted and believed she had only run aground.” She added that ‘repeated attempts’ were made by the crews of two remaining tugs involved in the operation to contact the Flying Phantom by radio and mobile phone but ‘all attempts were unsuccessful’.

Ms Wade told the court: “The Red Jasmine continued her passage and docked, assisted by both remaining tugs. Only then did it become apparent to all concerned that the Flying Phantom had foundered and there was likely loss of life.” The Advocate Depute stated: “In conclusion, Clydeport’s marine risk assessment was not ‘suitable and sufficient’ in that it failed to consider, in a structured and systematic manner, how unwanted events occur and failed critically to review whether the risk control measures in place to prevent and mitigate the effects were both functioning and effective.

“Finally, Clydeport failed to systematically track the risk assessment actions and properly review their risk assessments.” The company pled guilty to a serious breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act and now faces a monetary penalty.

Flying Phantom owners Svitzer Marine have previously been fined £1.7 million over the tragedy.

Clydeport admitted failing to have an adequate contingency plan for when fog — frequent in the Clydebank area — is encountered.

It also conceded that it had failed to provide a safety management system and to appoint a suitable people as designated persons.

Ms Wade QC said that the charge against Clydeport was not that it was the ‘proximate cause’ of the incident by their failures.

She stated: “It is that the Abu Egila and Red Jasmine incidents brought to light these contraventions (of the Act).” Defence Advocate Richard Keen QC submitted Clydeport’s accounts for the last three years and told the High Court that the company had made ‘substantial profits’. He said: “We do not seek to mitigate the penalty on grounds of affordability to the company.” All three victims of the tragedy were members of Unite the union and, reacting to yesterday’s developments, its Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty urged the Scottish Government to toughen workplace health and safety legislation.

Mr Rafferty said: “By admitting their culpability the law will punish Clydeport with a significant fine but this does nothing for the families of the victims, puts no responsibility on an individual or individuals within the company itself and does nothing to prevent fatalities from recurring in the future.” Judge Lord Kinclaven is expected to pass sentence on Clydeport on Monday.