Casualty News – Professional Mariner

Containership experiences parametric rolling, loses containers, battles 5-day fire

On Oct. 21, 2021, the containership ZIM Kingston had completed its transit from South Korea and was just offshore of Vancouver, Canada, waiting for anchorage and performing a controlled drift in 16-foot seas and 35-plus-knot winds when it began extreme, violent rolling of up to 36 degrees – 109 containers were lost overboard, and several smashed containers were strewn over the side. Nearly 36 hours later, a fire broke…

Bulk carrier breaks free from its moorings on Mississippi, collides with barge

While loading its cargo in Convent, La., in March 2023, the bulk carrier Sirocco broke free from its moorings and was swept down the Mississippi River in a 4-knot current. Several tugs scrambled to wrangle the drifting 751-foot bulker, which had dropped both anchors and engaged its engine, but Sirocco eventually struck a moored barge downriver. No injuries or pollution were reported from…

Crew on Canadian pilot boat perishes after falling overboard

A crewmember on a pilot boat died after falling overboard near St. John’s Harbour, according to a Transportation Safety Board of Canada report. The incident happened shortly after a pilot transfer on Sept. 26, 2022. The deckhand and master were alone on the 62-foot-long, 51-ton, A.P.A. No. 18 when the deckhand fell overboard at approximately 2357 Newfoundland Daylight Time. They were approximately 2 nautical…

Tugboat makes contact with deteriorating bridge fender system in Washington

The clock approached midnight on a clear October evening as the pusher tugboat Montlake and its barge Sodo left the dock in Tacoma, Wash., for a short run up to Seattle. But first, the articulated tug-barge (ATB) unit had to pass through a double bascule bridge over the narrow Hylebos Waterway. The ATB approached the bridge slightly out…

Wheelman in Columbia River pier strike dozed due to unrecognized fatigue

The tugboat Cindy B was upbound in the Columbia River pushing a single barge loaded with aggregate when the veteran captain needed a bathroom break. He asked the deck hand, who had spent the last six months training at the helm, to take over. The deck hand had been on watch since midnight and reported feeling alert and up to…

NTSB: Mate misjudged nighttime approach to Lake Charles pier

The mate helming a towing vessel misjudged a nighttime approach and struck a dock in the Port of Lake Charles, according to federal investigators. At 2326 local time on July 8, 2023, Danny Terral was pushing six loaded barges northbound on the Calcasieu River when the starboard lead barge hit the pier while docking at the Port of Lake Charles…

Severed facing wire cited in West Memphis barge breakaway, pier strike

Federal investigators believe “undetected damage” caused a facing wire to snap and two barges to break away from their tow in the Lower Mississippi River near West Memphis, Ark., earlier this year. The 200-by-35-foot barges, ACL23401 and ACBL2549, remained tethered together as they drifted downriver with the current and struck a Port of West Memphis dock at about 1240 on…

Pier strike along Mississippi River attributed to sleeping towboat pilot

The pilot of a inland towboat fell asleep before the vessel deviated off course and struck an industrial cargo pier near Saint Rose, La., in late 2023, according to federal investigators. The 2,000-hp John 3:16 was transiting upriver without any barges in tow when the contact occurred at about 0641 on Sept. 12, 2023, at Lower Mississippi River mile 118.6.…

Grounding near Sault St. Marie likely the result of multitasking by lone master on bridge

A Great Lakes freighter ran aground while departing from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in early 2023 and sustained damage to its water ballast tanks, according to a federal investigation, which concluded the captain was alone on the bridge and performing multiple tasks simultaneously. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the 715-foot, 15,396-ton American Mariner overshot its turn and grounded on shoals at the…

Crew limits damage from engine room fire traced to overbent hose

Crewmembers were able to limit damages during a fire aboard a towing vessel crossing Louisiana’s Lake Salvador after a hose ruptured and sprayed hydraulic oil onto a hot engine exhaust manifold and turbocharger. The incident happened at about 1332 local time on Feb. 17, 2023, as the 59-foot-long Desperado was near mile 20 of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Bayou…