The National Transportation Safety Board has launched its report on the grounding of an ATB cargo barge on a rock simply off Kodiak Island final 12 months. The casualty was attributable to improper use of an digital chart system (ECS), in line with NTSB: the grasp missed the image for a submerged rock, and the chart system’s auto-checking operate was not used to confirm the security of the voyage. 

On the morning of May 22, 2023, the ATB tug/barge mixture Cingluku / Jungjuk left the small port of Togiak, Alaska, headed for Seward. The Cingluku had provides on board for an additional vessel, and deliberate to rendezvous in Shakmanof Cove on Kodiak Island. The barge was unladen and partially ballasted, and was drawing about six ft of water on the stern. 

On May 23 at noon, as Cingluku transited False Pass, the captain – a 20-year veteran of the towing trade – laid out a course to Shakmanof Cove utilizing the tug’s digital chart system. It was his first time on a voyage into the distant bay on Kodiak’s northern coast. The tug continued on by means of the remainder of the day and all of May 24, arriving off Kodiak on the morning of the twenty fifth. 

The tug approached Shakmanof Cove at about 1030 hours within the morning, and the mate joined the grasp on watch. Two deckhands and the engineer have been stationed on the bow in preparation for touchdown, however had little ahead visibility due to the barge’s giant bow ramp. 

At about 1047, because the ATB rounded Kizhuyak Point, the barge ran aground on a submerged rock about 400 yards off the shoreline. The tug was not affected, and its ATB coupling to the barge remained in place. Alaska’s sturdy tides got here to the rescue and lifted the barge off about six hours later. The crew remained within the cove to await good climate and prepare for a dive inspection. Divers discovered no indicators of penetration of the hull, and there was no flooding within the barge’s void areas. 

After the ATB reached Seward, it was drydocked for a category inspection. The injury included a 16-20 foot lengthy dents within the backside plating and body injury in the identical space, in method of the centerline ahead ballast tank. The whole estimated value of repairs got here to about $1.5 million. 

Frame injury contained in the ballast tank (NTSB)

While the rock was not seen from the floor, it was a charted hazard, and it appeared on the NOAA chart that the grasp had used to arrange the voyage plan. 

The tug’s grasp and mate used the frequent ECS platform Rose Point, usually discovered on working vessels in Alaska. The system has a depth contour security characteristic that highlights shoals and hazards based mostly on the vessel’s draft, however the crew informed NTSB they did not use it. The cause, they stated, was that “the soundings don’t really mean anything” in Western Alaska, the place a lot of the survey information dates again many many years. The software program also can spotlight remoted risks, like this submerged rock, however that choice was turned off. The firm’s coverage in its SMS didn’t require using these options, and the agency didn’t give its crews formal coaching on using the software program. 

“When investigators viewed the area on an equivalent ECS, the asterisk marking the rock was displayed alongside soundings of similar size and color, so it is possible that the captain mistook the asterisk for a depth sounding or other chart information when plotting and reviewing the route,” concluded NTSB. “Using other available resources, such as the Coast Pilot, would have helped the captain in identifying the rock when planning and reviewing the route.”