Marine

Marine

Marine

Keywords Disasters, Marine transport, Pollution

21 May 1998 ­ Arrington, Mass, USA

The US National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that pilot error caused m tanker Julie N to strike a bridge pier and spill 170,000 gallons of fuel oil in Portland, Maine, on 27 September 1996. However, NTSB investigators also said the narrow draw of Portland's Million Dollar Bridge left the pilot little margin for error, and inadequate fenders protecting the pier made the spill worse. The bridge has since been demolished, said Charles Serioudom, senior investigator for the USCG's Marine Safety Office in Portland. "The probable cause of the collision was the pilot's inadvertent order to port rudder instead of starboard rudder," according to a summary of the NTSB report released on 5 May. "He recognised his error within seconds and ordered the rudder hard to starboard. Given the narrowness of the bridge span, however, the shifting of the rudder occurred too late to avoid the collision," the report stated. The accident ripped a 10-metre gash in the tanker below her waterline rupturing a cargo tank and a bunker tank. The vessel sustained US$660,000 in damage. Repairs to the bridge cost $232,000, and the spill cost $43 million to clean up, according to the NTSB. The responsible party also settled $2.9 million in fisheries claims.

29 May 1998 ­ Stockholm, Sweden

The owners of m passenger ro-ro ferry Estonia that sank in 1994 killing 852 people said today they had decided not to pursue legal action against the German shipyard that built the vessel. Shipping companies Nordstrom & Thulin of Sweden and Estonia's state-owned Esco had until June this year to start legal proceedings against the Meyer Werft shipyard. "We have nothing to gain by taking action against the shipyard," Hans Laidwa, spokesman at Nordstrom & Thulin, told Swedish news agency TT. "It would not do anything to promote safety at sea if we went further and took them to court." Laidwa said the International Maritime Commission had already pointed out the deficiencies of the vessel that sank off the coast of Finland in the Baltic Sea during an overnight voyage from Tallinn in Estonia to Stockholm in September 1994.

8 June 1998 ­ South Georgia, South Atlantic

The Argentine Navy says at least four people were killed and another 13 are missing after mfv Sudurhavid (363gt, built 1964) sank in the South Atlantic. The Sudurhavid, registered in Namibia, is reported to have sunk in bad weather some 300 kilometres west of the South Georgia Islands. Reports say 21 survivors were picked up by fishing vessels responding to a rescue call. Argentine Navy vessels have been searching the area.

The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands has received confirmed reports that mfv Sudurhavid sank in South Georgia waters on 6 June. The GSGSSI understands that of the 38 crew, 21 have been rescued alive, six are dead, possibly seven, and 11 are missing. The survivors were picked up by mfv Isla Camila, which will land them and the bodies at King Edward Point in South Georgia, to be picked up by a Ministry of Defence vessel and brought to the Falklands Islands. An RAF aircraft, stationed at Mount Pleasant, has been assisting in the search and rescue operations and has been able to direct other fishing vessels in the vicinity to an area where wreckage has been sighted.