Ship Runs Aground Columbia River

This happened just around the corner from us.

New Bulk Carrier Takes on Water After Running Aground on Columbia River – gCaptain

KM London, currently docked in Longview, WA. Liberian registry, what a surprise.

All AIS vessel positions are available on this site: https://www.vesselfinder.com/

Lepke said:

KM London, currently docked in Longview, WA. Liberian registry, what a surprise.

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Surprised that it's docked in Longview, Wa.? or that it is Liberian flagged?

The vessel is owned Taiwan-based Kuang Ming Shipping. How would the country of registry come into play here? There was a River Pilot on board. I assume he is local to Washington State.

A ship had a "catastrophic gyro failure" in Douglas Channel not far from Kitimat a few years ago and rammed the rocky shoreline. Not much a Pilot can do in such tight quarters but throw it into reverse and hang on for the ride. Escort tugs always a good idea, but nibble into profits...

Barring a mechanical failure that could later be identified as the cause of the accident, when there is a pilot on board as well as the captain and crew, who likely would be held responsible for the grounding?

GFC said:

Barring a mechanical failure that could later be identified as the cause of the accident, when there is a pilot on board as well as the captain and crew, who likely would be held responsible for the grounding?

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The captain. The pilot is there to give advice but not take command of the ship. I'm curious what the "gyro issue" was, eyeballs are your first line of defense. But pilots now a days are so attached to computers that they can't do it alone!

Every new boat has to get the first ding...

SaltyDawg86 said:

I'm curious what the "gyro issue" was...

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Gyro compass went squirrelly and sent the ship off on a new heading about 45 degrees off course in a narrow channel...as I recall.

Here it is...

On September 25, 2009, two hours out of Kitimat in the Douglas Channel, the freighter Petersfield suffered complete gyroscopic failure, lost steering, took a turn to starboard and struck a rocky outcrop across from Grant Point. The 26 crew members suffered no injuries and the 187-metre freighter was able to extricate itself from the rocks and return to Kitimat. Despite extensive damage to the bulbous bow, no cargo was lost.

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Northwest Coast Tanker Traffic | Northern BC's Only Independent Regional MagazineNorthword Magazine

MurrayM said:

Gyro compass went squirrelly and sent the ship off on a new heading about 45 degrees off course in a narrow channel...as I recall.

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So they were on auto pilot and not hand steering?

SaltyDawg86 said:

So they were on auto pilot and not hand steering?

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From a layman, It makes it sound like the gyro compass had control of the autopilot. When the gyro went haywire it ran the ship aground. That sounds to be a pretty lame excuse to me. Wouldn’t you be able to just disengage the autopilot if you were paying attention? Is it normal to have an autopilot engaged in a channel / river in the first place? As a professional could you “splain how this all works Lucy”

Easting said:

From a layman, It makes it sound like the gyro compass had control of the autopilot. When the gyro went haywire it ran the ship aground. That sounds to be a pretty lame excuse to me. Wouldn’t you be able to just disengage the autopilot if you were paying attention? Is it normal to have an autopilot engaged in a channel / river in the first place? As a professional could you “splain how this all works Lucy”

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They should have been in hand steering. I've never been on a ship that is on auto pilot inside the sea buoy. IF they were on auto pilot, it's very easy to go to hand steering. Sounds like nobody was paying attention and they screwed up big time. I'd be surprised if the pilot walks away with just a slap on the wrist.

Salty D. They blamed the pilot, in the Cosco Busan incident. SF Bay in 2007.

Shrew said:

Surprised that it's docked in Longview, Wa.? or that it is Liberian flagged?

The vessel is owned Taiwan-based Kuang Ming Shipping. How would the country of registry come into play here? There was a River Pilot on board. I assume he is local to Washington State.

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We get ships from all over the world. Mostly from China and/or Hong Kong. They load logs, grain and dry bulk stuff. We also have a car ship twice a week that unloads in Portland

Rebel112r said:

Salty D. They blamed the pilot, in the Cosco Busan incident. SF Bay in 2007.

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Yes, that incident brought a lot of changes to the industry

Rebel112r said:

Salty D. They blamed the pilot, in the Cosco Busan incident. SF Bay in 2007.

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Why would they blame the pilot if the accident was attributed to an equipment malfunction which caused the boat to veer off course? Not to mention somebody was not paying attention. Seems like the captain owns that. Or am I speaking of a different incident?

That pilot was going too fast in the fog and was impaired by prescription drugs which caused him to get confused and hit a bridge, spilling a ton of fuel into the bay.

SaltyDawg86 said:

That pilot was going too fast in the fog and was impaired by prescription drugs which caused him to get confused and hit a bridge, spilling a ton of fuel into the bay.

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Now I am confused

“The pilot’s inclusion doesn’t exempt the OOW of his duties. As much of an expert as the pilot may be, the master remains the sole skipper and the last word on every matter. The master remains responsible for the vessel and her safe navigation and any incident doesn’t exonerate him from blame. When in doubt of the pilot’s efficiency, he may choose to take over the handling of the vessel.”

passed along to me...

http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/marine/2009/m09w0193/m09w0193.asp

Findings as to Causes and Contributing Factors
Following departure from Kitimat, a system malfunction resulted in periodic and erratic heading information being delivered to the 10 cm radar and also led to the freezing of the analogue repeaters.
At the same time as the repeaters froze, the quartermaster applied a small, routine amount of starboard rudder to make a minor course correction that resulted in the vessel commencing and continuing a starboard turn.
Since the pilot had stepped onto the bridge wing and the OOW was distracted by the problem with the 10 cm radar, the vessel's progress was not effectively monitored and the starboard turn continued for over 2 minutes before the pilot became aware of the unintended deviation.

Easting said:

Now I am confused

“The pilot’s inclusion doesn’t exempt the OOW of his duties. As much of an expert as the pilot may be, the master remains the sole skipper and the last word on every matter. The master remains responsible for the vessel and her safe navigation and any incident doesn’t exonerate him from blame. When in doubt of the pilot’s efficiency, he may choose to take over the handling of the vessel.”

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Correct, but you can't be on the bridge of a vessel stoned, hit a bridge, spill fuel and think you're free of any consequences.

Shrew said:

Surprised that it's docked in Longview, Wa.? or that it is Liberian flagged?

The vessel is owned Taiwan-based Kuang Ming Shipping. How would the country of registry come into play here? There was a River Pilot on board. I assume he is local to Washington State.

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Liberian registered ships are under that registry because it's cheap and lax on inspections and requirements. Several of the big news groundings, sinkings and oil spills in the last 20 years were Liberian flagged ships. Usually when a ship runs aground in the Columbia River is is caused by some mechanical failure. The ship that took out the Wauna dock lost its steering, and so on...

So we are talking about at least three different ships/accidents here, and maybe more. Recent grounding in the Columbia river. Liberian registered, but a brand new ship. Then the Kitimat accident. And now the Busan in SF Bay.

Have I missed any?

twistedtree said:

So we are talking about at least three different ships/accidents here, and maybe more. Recent grounding in the Columbia river. Liberian registered, but a brand new ship. Then the Kitimat accident. And now the Busan in SF Bay.

Have I missed any?

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Nope. You got 'em all.

Cota had prescriptions for drugs, that may have been a factor. He may or may not have been impaired. He left when 6 other pilots decided to remain at their berths. Fog so thick, couldn’t see bow! Pilot that had brought boat in, had no troubles with instruments or radar, but mentioned that ECDIS, seemed a bit off to the west. I think he served 10 months and lost his license. The spill is what got him. I think retirement at $150k is not so bad though. Had a friend who knew him well.

First line of defense is a good offense. Pilot on boarding has the master sign off on the pilots log attesting that the Master has ultimate control at all times. One would suppose even when the master has verbally given the pilot authority in a specific moment.
On a personal note,
Several year past I have had a GPS go goofy at a tense moment in navigating a tidal rush in a narrow channel under manual steering. Dark, stormy, no vision of shoreside. You talk about scary. Sea going vertigo. All of sudden your screen shows 90 degree direction change with short distance to the shore. Panic time till you can calm down enough to clime to the fly bridge and navigate with eyeballs.

To read of a gyro failure and a sudden or uncontrolled shift in direction in a large ship has to be a real panic in a similar mode as my smaller issue.
(Removed and replaced the GPS unit as it was the issue)

Al-Ketchikan

Northern Spy said:

Nope. You got 'em all.

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And have we got the "facts",and maybe the "alternative facts", blended into one or other, or all, to a great or lesser extent?