Jalma Topic was upbound on the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans when its rudder became stuck on the port side. Multiple attempts to regain control were unsuccessful, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association (NOBRA) pilot conning the 623-foot bulker took steps to warn personnel aboard a nearby barge as a collision appeared imminent, the agency said in its report.
Those workers got the message moments before impact at 0323 on July 12, 2021, at mile 93.5. Nobody aboard the barge or the ship was hurt and there was no pollution. But the barge and associated infrastructure required nearly $6 million in repairs.
NTSB investigators traced the steering failure to an electrical fault controlling the steering gear. However, the agency said the vessel’s operator, Marfin Management SAM, failed to provide clear procedures for responding to such a failure.
“There were about 2 minutes from the time the helmsman announced the rudder was not working to when Jalma Topic struck the office barge, leaving the bridge team with minimal time to identify the problem causing the rudder to be stuck and take appropriate countermeasures,” the NTSB said in its report.
Marfin Management told investigators it was unaware of the flaw uncovered at least seven years earlier by YDK Technologies, which made the ship’s PT500 autopilot system. Marfin also said it did not receive a caution sticker produced by YDK Technologies explaining how to address the problem.
Jalma Topic got underway in ballast from Vera Cruz, Mexico, three days before the incident. Its destination was a grain terminal upriver from New Orleans. The voyage proceeded normally through the mouth of the Mississippi River into multiple pilotage areas. The NOBRA pilot boarded the ship at 0305, after which time the departing Crescent River Port Pilot reported no issues with the vessel.
Jalma Topic continued upriver at about 9 knots with the 11,505-hp main engine at full ahead. The master departed the bridge at about 0317 to use the restroom. The first signs of trouble occurred three minutes later when the rudder wouldn’t return to midship.
“The pilot, who said he went into ‘emergency mode,’ then rapidly ordered hard to starboard, stop engine, and then full astern, in quick succession,” the report said.
An unknown alarm began sounding on the bridge a moment or two later as the crew tried to carry out those orders. A second sound blared about 20 seconds after the first. The second officer silenced the alarm while trying to activate a backup steering system without determining its origin.
The master returned at 0321 to a chaotic scene on the bridge. He carried out a series of pilot orders as the ship’s turn to port accelerated. The master informed the pilot that stopping the engine would slow the ship faster than ordering the engine into reverse. A bosun on the bow dropped the port anchor seconds before impact.
Multiple vessels owned by Cooper/T. Smith Corp., of Mobile, Ala., were moored up ahead on the right bank, south of Algiers Point. The vessels, collectively known as Smith’s Fleet, included a moored office barge, several moored tugboats and two moored barges.
The office barge was staffed 24-7 by tugboat dispatchers. The NOBRA pilot once worked for towing company based at Smith’s Fleet and knew the office was likely occupied. As such, he urgently asked the Coast Guard to warn them over the radio. The dispatchers heard the message just before impact, which knocked one of them to the floor. A cleaning staffer also escaped uninjured.
The NTSB report praised the pilot for recognizing the danger and notifying personnel on the barge as soon as possible.
Jalma Topic caused extensive damage to the barges and infrastructure at Smith’s Fleet. The fleet mooring system, catwalks and gangways, among other equipment, was either destroyed or seriously damaged during the impact. Jalma Topic sustained damage to its bulbous bow that cost more than $200,000 to fix.
The ship was outfitted with two steering pumps. It was underway using its No. 1 pump on the morning of the incident. Authorities ultimately traced the steering failure to “an electrical solid-state relay on the servo control board of the operating control system to the steering gear.”
YDK Technologies created a special sticker indicating how to respond to such a failure. However, Marfin Management told the NTSB it was unaware of the problem and did not receive the sticker until after the incident at Smith’s Fleet.
“Both the notice and sticker stated that in the event of a ‘Servo Loop/FB Fail,’ the crew should switch to the standby steering gear pump, thus energizing the servo control board for that steering gear pump and shutting down the pump in use,” the NTSB said. “This procedure would likely have resulted in the vessel regaining steering.
However, these instructions were not available to the bridge team of Jalma Topic at the time of the casualty,” the report continued. “As such, the company’s contingency for failure of the steering system did not contain specific, accurate actions for a bridge team to address a servo loop failure upon receiving the alarm.”
Marfin Management, based in Monaco, did not respond to an inquiry about the NTSB findings.