Casualty News – Professional Mariner

Skill and Tradition on the Piscataqua River

Capt. John Reeves wasted no time getting the tugboat Z-One underway in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Like fellow Moran Towing Capt. Matt Brewster, who would soon depart aboard Handy Four, Reeves had a schedule to keep. Some five miles away, the inbound tanker New England was nearly ready to transit up the Piscataqua River to a Portsmouth oil terminal. Running late is not an…

Pilot memory lapse blamed for barge tow collision

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued its report on a January 9, 2023, Lower Mississippi River incident that caused the barges in two separate tows to break free and collide. The incident occurred at 1:52 a.m. near Fort Adams, Ms., when the towing vessel Big D was pushing 19 barges downbound on the Lower Mississippi River, and the towing vessel Carol McManus…

Uncontrollable flooding sank the Caribe Trader II

The investigation into the March 6, 2022, flooding and sinking of the cargo vessel Carib Trader II has concluded and the National Transportation Safety Board has issued its final report on the incident. The uncrewed, 274-foot general cargo vessel took on water and sank near the Magallanes Bank, approximately 25 miles northwest of Santo Domingo Cay, Bahamas, during a dead ship tow from…

No one injured in Kentucky towboat fire

No injuries were reported in an early morning January 30, 2024, engine room fire aboard the twin-screw, 2,000 hp. towboat M/V Johnny M. The 92-foot Johnny M., owned by Terral River Service, was pushing four loaded rock barges on Kentucky Lake, just south of the lock at Tennessee River Mile 22.4 when the port engine caught fire, said U.S. Coast…

Towboat Crews Pull Pinned Barge Away From Markland Dam

On January 29, 2024, two barges broke away from a tow on the Ohio River with one, AEP 772, pushed broadside against the upper gates at Markland Locks and Dam. The stray barge was immediately corralled in the lock, while the otherwas pulled over to the dam and was pinned on the piers, according to the U.S. Army Corps…

New safety technology employs drones

Lisbon, Portugal-based unmanned aerial systems developer TEKEVER has successfully deployed a life raft from an AR5 drone. The innovative technology was demonstrated during a recent search and rescue exercise conducted by the Italian Coast Guard in partnership with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The AR5 drone, equipped with optical and infrared cameras, a maritime radar, an AIS receiver, and…

Ohio River towboat narrowly escapes sinking

Early in the evening of Saturday, February 10, the M/V Tom Frazier was southbound on the Ohio River from Paducah, Ky., with a tow of 15 empty barges at River Mile 355.1, when the barges broke away, and the towboat began taking on water. With its engine room rapidly flooding, the captain was able to ground the towboat near the…

Marine safety systems surge in importance

The implementation of new marine safety systems is expected to surge through the end of the decade, according to ResearchandMarkets.com. Several factors account for the expected growth such as the influence of international maritime regulations, incidents of maritime accidents, and a heightened focus on environmental protection within the maritime industry that impact how companies operate their vessels, said the Dublin,…

NTSB issues personal locator device alert

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a safety alert urging vessel owners and operators to provide every crewmember with a personal locator device. During an emergency, a mariner’s chance of survival decreases if searchers cannot quickly and accurately identify their location. The use of personal locator devices, such as personal locator beacons (PLB) or satellite emergency notification devices (SEND), is “strongly…

Final Southern California oil spill report rises to the surface

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found that a 2021 oil spill in San Pedro Bay, Ca., which cost $160 million to clean up stemmed from two cargo ships that, nine months earlier, dragged their anchors over a major oil pipeline. On January 25, 2021, MSC Danit and Beijing were anchored in the Bay when a storm struck and…