Jalma Topic downriver of the workplace barge with its port anchor out following contact. Inset reveals a close-up of the injury to the vessel’s bulbous bow. (Background supply: J. Claverie) [Image:NTSB]
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched its report on a July 12, 2021, incident by which a 51,996 dwt bulk service slammed right into a stationary barge getting used as a floating workplace house close to New Orleans. The workplace barge and moorings sustained damages estimated at $6 million. The bow of the bulker sustained an estimated $215,000 in damages.
The accident occurred when the Liberian-flagged, 623-foot-bulker Jalma Topic, owned by Lotina Navigation Company, and operated by Marfin Management, was transiting upriver on the Lower Mississippi River and misplaced steering and struck the barge.
During the voyage, the rudder turned caught at port 10 levels. According to the report, when New Orleans–Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association (NOBRA) pilot on board the bulker seen the rudder was not responding he took instant and efficient motion to make sure the folks on board the workplace barge had been warned of the state of affairs, and tried to sluggish the vessel as a lot as attainable.
The workplace barge sustained damages to its superstructure and its hull. Electrical, plumbing and communication connections to the shore had been severed, and the heating air flow and air-con techniques had been broken. The mooring system and all gangways and surrounding catwalks to the barges had been both broken or destroyed.
During the NTSB investigation, a technician discovered {that a} solid-state relay on the working steering management system servo management board had failed, inflicting the lack of steering. In addition, the investigation discovered the steering management system producer, YDK Technologies, had created a warning sticker and launched an vital discover to vessels with PT500 autopilot techniques in December 2014 that addressed the failure skilled on the Jalma Topic. However, the vessel’s operator said they weren’t notified of the 2014 discover and warning sticker from YDK Technologies till after the contact.
PROBABLE CAUSE
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the possible reason behind the contact of the Jalma Topic with the workplace barge was a lack of steering because of the failure of {an electrical} solid-state relay on the servo management board of the working management system to the steering gear. Contributing was the dearth of particular procedures accessible to the bridge staff to answer a failure of the steering management system.
LESSONS LEARNED
Vessel-specific procedures for steering casualties whereas maneuvering: Failures in steering management techniques can lead to damaging penalties. In channels or throughout maneuvering, the place instant hazards (grounding, site visitors, objects) are in proximity and subsequently response time is essential to avoiding a casualty, steering system failure contingencies require instant crew response. Companies ought to evaluation and establish potential steering system failures and make fast response procedures available to bridge and engine groups. Bridge and engine groups ought to conduct scenario-based drills to take care of proficiency in implementing these procedures.
