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 of position, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the 2,250-hp assist tugboat Olympic Scout tethered to the barge’s port bow could not push it back into the center of the channel. Olympic Scout’s starboard quarter ultimately struck wooden fendering on the Hylebos Bridge.
There were no injuries or pollution from the incident, which happened at 2341 on Oct. 13, 2023. But the tugboat knocked a wooden fendering section well out of position, among other damage. Replacing that fender with a sturdier steel system cost about $2.43 million.
NTSB investigators indicated Montlake’s captain should have slowed or stopped the transit to correct its position within the waterway.
“Given the slim margin of error for making the bridge transit and the short distance to make the approach, slowing or fully stopping the ATB’s forward motion earlier would have provided the operators more time to correct the lineup and successfully transit through the opening between the bridge’s protective fendering,” the agency said in its report released this fall.
The NTSB added that the fendering system’s “deteriorated condition” contributed to the severity of the damage it sustained.
Centerline Logistics, a Seattle company that provides bunkering and other marine towing services, operated the ATB and Olympic Scout through its subsidiary, Olympic Tug & Barge (OTB). The company argued the fender system was badly decayed, making it more susceptible to damage from a light contact. For instance, an October 2022 engineering report identified “minor to heavy marine borer damage” and “heavy fungal decay” on several fender pilings.
“While OTB has not commissioned an engineering analysis, even to the casual observer it is clear that the extent of the fendering system failure was a result of its deteriorated state rather than as the result of a glancing contact by the tug,” Centerline noted in its response to the NTSB.
Matt Godden, Centerline’s CEO, said a revised estimate for damage caused by Olympic Scout was just $100,000 — “or less than 5 percent of the stated $2,430,000 replacement cost cited by the NTSB in the report.”
Montlake and Sodo got underway from a terminal in the Hylebos Waterway at about 2333 on Oct. 13, 2023. The terminal was located about 1,275 feet from the Hylebos Bridge. Olympic Scout assisted the ATB off the dock and took position on Sodo’s port bow facing aft on the ATB. Sodo carried 15,000 barrels of ethanol, which occupied about a quarter of its tankage capacity.
The vessels loitered in the Hylebos Waterway, the northernmost channel in the port of Tacoma, waiting for the bridge tender to open the bridge. According to the NTSB, the ATB drifted to port, toward the south side of the waterway, while waiting for the go-ahead to transit the bridge.
Crews reported no trouble seeing the bridge or its lights during the short transit. The captain helming Montlake attempted to steer the ATB toward the center of the channel for the transit through the span with limited success.
“As the distance between the ATB and the bridge decreased, the Olympic Scout captain radioed the Montlake captain, telling him that the ATB needed to come more to starboard in order for the assist tugboat to make it through the bridge opening,” the NTSB report said. “The Montlake captain told the Olympic Scout captain to ‘do what he needed to do’ to bring the tugboat and ATB back toward the center of the channel.”
Olympic Scout’s captain placed the port engine astern, the starboard engine hard ahead with the rudders to port, to exert force to port in an effort to steer Sodo to starboard toward the center of the waterway. The maneuver did little to change the ATB’s course, and ultimately Montlake’s captain put both engines full astern to slow the vessels.
“The Olympic Scout captain applied progressively more rudder angle and engine speed, and the Montlake captain began backing down on his vessel’s engines, but, by the time these actions were taken, the fender was too close for Olympic Scout to avoid contact,” the NTSB said in its report.
Olympic Scout’s starboard quarter contacted the wooden fendering protecting the south pier of the Hylebos Bridge, the report said, damaging the fender system beyond repair. The bridge is just 150 feet wide at its narrowest point. The ATB was 78 feet wide and Olympic Scout was 25 feet wide, leaving little room for error when transiting the bridge even under optimal conditions.
The 217-foot-long Hylebos Bridge was built in 1939. It’s not clear how old the fender system was, but there is little disagreement about its condition. A marine survey conducted after the incident with Olympic Scout also identified structural issues.
“It is notable that the entire fender sustained catastrophic damage when Olympic Scout struck it at one end (at an angle – not directly), yet the tugboat sustained almost no damage,” the report noted. “The Hylebos Bridge fender system prevented damage to the bridge structure by Olympic Scout; however, the system’s degraded condition contributed to its extensive damage.”
Olympic Scout returned to its berth in Tacoma after hitting the bridge fender. Montlake and Sodo, meanwhile, continued their voyage north to Seattle. •