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 the job. But the tow began drifting to starboard at 0544 and eight minutes later it plowed through a riverside fuel terminal near Clatskanie, Ore.
The incident, at 0552 on Nov. 12, 2023, caused nearly $5.4 million in damage to the Port Westward Beaver Dock at mile 53, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The 3,000-hp Cindy B was not damaged, but the 250-by-76-foot barge St. John required about $550,000 in repairs. None of the three crewmembers on the tug were hurt, and pollution was minimal.
The deck hand helming the tugboat readily admitted he fell asleep in the minutes preceding the pier strike. NTSB investigators determined the deckhand did not perceive his fatigue, which occurred during a low point in his circadian rhythm as he adjusted to working overnights.
“Contributing to the casualty was the pilothouse alerter system not alarming to wake the incapacitated deck hand at the helm because a swinging VHF radio microphone in the motion sensors’ field of view defeated the system,” the NTSB report said.
Cindy B was engaged in delivering aggregate from Westport, Ore, to Troutdale, Ore., a voyage covering 77 miles on the Columbia River. Crews began delivering the aggregate cargo on Nov. 10, requiring multiple trips back and forth. The tow returned to Westport for another load late on Nov. 11, and the vessels departed on the incident voyage at about 0400 on Nov. 12, with a captain and two deckhands.
Cindy B was led by a captain with 27 years of maritime experience, 24 years of which as a licensed captain. The deck hand was credentialed as an ordinary seaman and wiper, but he had been training in the wheelhouse and routinely took the wheel for short periods when captains needed a quick break.
The captain, who like the deck hand was not identified in the report, took a restroom break at about 0530 on Nov. 12. Afterward, he stopped in the tugboat’s galley to make a pot of coffee. AIS data shows the deck hand likely fell asleep at about 0544 when the tugboat began veering to starboard. The tow continued making about 6 knots until it struck the terminal, causing substantial damage to a causeway connecting the terminal to the riverbank.
“While in the galley, the captain felt the tow strike the dock,” the report said. “He returned to the wheelhouse, where he found the deckhand confused and groggy.”
The deck hand later admitted he started leaning forward in the helm chair and “sort of just fell asleep.”
Subsequent testing showed neither crewmember was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time.
NTSB investigators zeroed in on the deck hand’s sleep regimen in the days preceding the pier strike. They found that he had a normal sleep cycle on Nov. 8, four days preceding the casualty. He slept seven hours overnight on Nov. 9-10 then took a two-hour nap later that morning. Crew shifted to a schedule of six hours on, six hours off at 1000 on Nov. 10, with the deck hand working the 1200 to 1800 and 000 to 0600 watches. He slept between four and five hours during rest periods, including the one preceding his watch from 0000 to 0600 the morning of the casualty.
NTSB investigators cited research showing people struggle in the first days after transitioning from normal sleep-awake cycles to overnight work. On the first night of overnight work, fatigue creates cognitive impairment akin to having a .10 blood alcohol content (BAC). On the second night, as the body adjusts, the impairment is roughly the same as a .05 BAC, the report said.
“The risk of an accident occurring during a night watch was compounded by the fact that the contact occurred at 0552, during a period considered to be a circadian low (roughly 0200–0600), when the body is normally more fatigued and prone to diminished alertness and degraded performance,” the NTSB report said.
“The deckhand stated that he did not feel tired before he fell asleep,” the reported continued. “However, research has shown that self-assessment of fatigue is problematic due to the noted impacts to judgment and decision-making. These impacts result in a diminished ability of the fatigued individual to detect when their performance is declining.”
Cindy B was required to have a bridge watch alarm system that responds to lack of motion in the wheelhouse with audio and visual alerts that increase in intensity the longer movement is not detected. In this case, the system was set for three-, six- and 10-minute intervals. Investigators believe the deck hand was asleep for about eight minutes.
The system did not sound during those eight minutes, likely because the dangling VHF radio microphone was sufficient movement to reset the timers on the alerter system. “Therefore,” the NTSB noted, “the pilothouse alerter system was rendered ineffective because a swinging VHF radio microphone in the motion sensors’ field of view defeated the system.”
According to the NTSB, vessel owner WCP Inc. has since replaced that alerter system on Cindy B. Contact information for the tugboat owner could not be found by press time.