NTSB reports on costly fishing vessel collision with containership
Written by Nick Blenkey
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that failure by its mate to maintain a proper lookout and conducting maintenance on critical equipment while underway led to an October 28, 2022 fishing vessel collision with an MSC containership.
No injuries were reported. Damage to the vessels was estimated at $6.25 million and the fishing vessel eventually sank..
On Oct. 28, 2022, while the 1,066-foot containership MSC Rita was transiting southbound in the Atlantic Ocean, 55 miles southeast of Chincoteague, Va., , the 115-foot fishing vessel Tremont was transiting north-northeast in the same area. The Tremont passed ahead of the MSC Rita, but then made a sudden turn back toward the containership. Shortly after, the vessels collided. The collision resulted in hull damage to the Tremont, which eventually sank.
The mate on board the Tremont told investigators that he was attempting to fix the vessel’s gyrocompass while the vessel’s autopilot was engaged. The Tremont’s autopilot required heading feedback from the vessel’s gyrocompass and needed a user to input the desired course. As the mate adjusted the gyrocompass to troubleshoot the error, the autopilot processed the heading feedback, causing the vessel to turn toward the MSC Rita.
“In this collision, maintenance of a gyrocompass was being conducted while the vessel was underway with its autopilot—which was receiving heading information from the gyrocompass—engaged,” the NTSB report says. “Simultaneous operations, often referred to in safety management systems, is a situation where two or more operations occur in the same place at the same time and may interfere with each other. Managing simultaneous operations is an essential element of safety management and safe vessel operation. Before beginning work, mariners should identify hazards associated with working on one piece of equipment that may affect another, such as sensors feeding information to other equipment, and manage those risks to avoid unsafe conditions.”
The NTSB report on the fishing vessel collision also emphasized the importance of using digital selective calling on modern VHF radios to communicate distress. In this collision, the Tremont captain used VHF to signal distress, but because of the distance between the vessel and the nearest Coast Guard station ashore, the distress call was weak.
“Modern VHF radios are equipped with digital selective calling (DSC),” the report says. Pressing the VHF-DSC button alerts search and rescue authorities and nearby vessels, and automatically provides the vessel’s position. Time permitting, mariners can also select the nature of distress on the radio and verbally communicate with nearby responders. When a vessel is in distress, mariners should use all available means to signal emergency responders, including VHF-DSC.”
The 13 people aboard the Tremont abandoned the vessel and were rescued by good samaritan vessels and a Coast Guard helicopter.
The Tremont’s dry hold held nearly 500,000 pounds of product at the time of
the casualty. The vessel was valued at $4 million and the load of fish at $750,000.
The MSC Rita suffered an estimated $1.5 million in damage, including buckled
sideshell plating, distorted longitudinal framing, and a 600-millimeter-by-400-
millimeter (1.3-foot-by-2.0-foot) hole in the shell plating of the no. 2 water ballast
tank.
- Download the full NTSB report HERE
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