Gale-force winds and excessive waves from a storm led to the itemizing of an elevated liftboat within the Gulf of Mexico, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) mentioned Wednesday. Damage to the vessel and cargo was estimated at $6.9 million.
On November 20, 2022, the liftboat L/B Robert was reported to be itemizing alongside a stationary oil platform within the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The crew had evacuated two days prior attributable to forecasted adversarial climate within the space, leaving the vessel elevated out of the water and unattended. No accidents or air pollution have been reported.
The liftboat captain determined to evacuate the vessel on November 17, 2022, as a result of forecasted waves would exceed each the boat’s 8-foot underway and 15-foot jacked up working limits. Investigators concluded the choice to evacuate rig personnel and liftboat crewmembers from the vessel, fairly than try a transit to an space of refuge or stay on board, was acceptable for the forecasted circumstances and decreased the chance to these on board.
When the crew evacuated the L/B Robert, they left an air hole about 25 ft above the water’s floor per steering from shoreside administration personnel to remain simply on the most wave heights predicted by the climate forecasts to keep up the vessel’s biggest resistance to overturning from the mixed forces of wind and waves. The vessel probably skilled waves as excessive as 30 ft, exceeding the air hole and the forecasts on the time of the captain’s determination to evacuate.
Overturning forces from the wind and waves transferred down the vessel’s legs to the pads, inflicting the seabed basis round them to deteriorate. Investigators decided it’s probably the deteriorated seabed basis below the port leg gave manner, inflicting the leg to slip right into a can gap and the vessel to tilt to port, submerging its deck edge.
