The National Transportation Safety Board has actually released its record on a February 13, 2019, event in which, transiting downbound on the Lower Mississippi River, the 1961-built towing vessel Miss Dixie (had by Hex Stone as well as run by JRC Marine), hit the 1976-built upbound hauling vessel D.& & R. Boney (had by American Commercial Barge Line as well as run by Inland Marine Service) which was pressing 9 barges.
Several barges broke out from their tows as well as were ultimately gathered by the teams of the hauling vessels. No injuries or contamination were reported. The price of problems to 4 barges was $294,530.
Initially, states the NTSB record, the Miss Dixie‘s downbound transportation continued as anticipated; no concerns with any kind of equipment or tools were reported.
Things began to fail after the Miss Dixie passed under the Huey Long Bridge as well as was aligned to satisfy 2 northbound tows: the Mary Parker as well as the D.& & R.Boney The Miss Dixie’s captain had actually organized to satisfy the Mary Parker starboard to starboard however had actually not connected with the D.& & R. Boney.
“At 1915, after passing the Mary Parker near mile 104,” states the record, “the Miss Dixie’s captain noticed that the vessel was not responding to his steering and propulsion commands and he was unable to execute the sharp turn as expected. About this time, a deckhand saw smoke in the engine room and reported that there was a fire in the engine room in the area of the port clutch. The captain rang the general alarm, contacted the D.& R. Boney, and requested to meet the upbound vessel on “the one whistle,” significance that the vessels would certainly pass each various other port side to port side. The captain of the D.& & R. Boney duplicated the demand as well as stated, “it don’t look good for that,” as well as, “I sure wish you’d go for the two, but all right, I’ll shoot her over.” Five secs later on, the D.& & R. Boney‘s captain stated that he was mosting likely to quit his vessel since the vessels would certainly clash if they tried to satisfy port side to port side. Fifteen secs later on, the D.& & R. Boney’s captain took incredibly elusive activity as well as program that he was “backing like hell” (indicating his engines went to optimum astern). About this moment, the deckhands aboard the Miss Dixie went back to the engine area with a fire extinguisher as well as looked for the resource of the fire. After discovering no fires, the deckhands aerated the area to remove the smoke by opening up the engine area doors and afterwards left the area. None of the team reported listening to any kind of fire or smoke detector throughout the event.”
At 1917, states the record, the captain of the Miss Dixie program over VHF that he had “lost an engine,” as well as concerning 30 secs after that, the lead intrude the Miss Dixie‘s tow hit the lead barge of the D.& & R. Boney’ s tow, bringing the tows to a quit, damaging protecting cables, as well as launching a number of barges adrift right into the river. Shortly after that, the Miss Dixie‘s captain revealed over VHF that there was a fire in the engine area. Immediately after the accident, the Coast Guard VTS spoken to neighboring vessels to help as well as ultimately shut the river at 1922 in between miles 101 as well as 106. Shortly after that, the deckhand reported to the captain that there was no fire in the engine area, as well as the port clutch had “burned up.”
After the accident, the team of the Miss Dixie figured out that the port clutch was the resource of the smoke. After the crash, a solution rep concentrating on aquatic commercial equipments checked the port clutch aboard the Miss Dixie as well as figured out that the port clutch had “excessive wear” which the clutch would certainly slide as well as was “40% operational.”
According to the proprietor of the Miss Dixie‘s running firm, the vessel was gotten concerning 6 months prior to the crash. The proprietor showed that an acquisition study was finished which the upkeep documents featured the vessel. Prior to getting the vessel, both major engines were upgraded, however he did not understand if this overhaul consisted of the clutches. After the overhaul as well as prior to the acquisition of Miss Dixie, the engines had actually been run for 40 hrs. He thought that the clutches were checked, was informed that they remained in “good standing,” as well as did not think that it was needed to reconstruct them. He was not knowledgeable about the upkeep needs as well as routine examinations for the kind of clutches aboardMiss Dixie When inquired about a preventative upkeep system for the vessel, the proprietor mentioned that the teams carried out daily aesthetic look at the equipment, as well as if any kind of concerns were discovered that went beyond the capability of the team to address, outside suppliers would certainly be worked with to impact repair services. Additionally, none of the vessels in the fleet had yet to be checked under 46 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Subchapter M.
The proprietor did not offer any kind of upkeep documents to private investigators.
According to the vessel driver, the clutch producer’s directions for routine examinations were not aboard the vessel.
ASSOCIATED WITH 2 EVEN MORE CASUALTIES
The Miss Dixie was associated with 2 various other casualties in the weeks after the accident with the D.& & R. Boney tow. Ten days after, while pressing 3 barges, the tow of the Miss Dixie struck a fixed barge nearNew Orleans Two weeks later on, the Miss Dixie experienced a crankcase surge in the starboard engine, creating a fire in the engine area. After the fire was snuffed out, the Miss Dixie was pulled to coast. On March 3, 2019 the Miss Dixie was gotten rid of from active duty as well as ultimately ditched.
LIKELY REASON
The National Transportation Safety Board figured out that the potential root cause of the accident in between the tows of the hauling vessels Miss Dixie as well as D.& & R. Bone y was the absence of a reliable upkeep program aboard the Miss Dixie, leading to extreme as well as unnoticed wear of the port clutch, which endangered the vessel’s ability to move.
The NTSB record ends with this care:
EXAMINATION OF PROPULSION SYSTEM CLUTCH SETTINGS UP
Owners as well as drivers need to make sure that all vital tools connected with propulsion systems, such as clutches, are consisted of in preventative upkeep systems which they comply with the producer’s upkeep as well as evaluation interval suggestions.
Download the record HERE
