Search Results for: Hurricane Ida

  • News

Virginia Pilots opt for Volvo Penta IPS for new boat

NOVEMBER 30, 2016 — A new boat being built for the Virginia Pilots Association by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding joins the increasing number of pilot boats powered by Volvo Penta IPS inboard propulsion systems.

AMC develops future-proof offshore wind CTV

NOVEMBER 28, 2016 — By 2020, predicts the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), 354,000 people—up from 253,000 today—will be employed in the European offshore wind sector. Many of those people will need

NTSB recovers El Faro VDR

AUGUST 9  — The voyage data recorder (VDR) from El Faro, the TOTE cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015, was successfully recovered from the ocean floor late Monday

  • News

NTSB launches El Faro VDR recovery mission

AUGUST 5, 2016 — The third National Transportation Safety Board mission to the wreckage of the El Faro is scheduled to launch today from Virginia Beach, VA. The mission’s primary objective is

  • News

Recovering El Faro VDR requires new mission

APRIL 28, 2016 —  The National Transportation Safety Board says that  the investigative team aboard the research vessel Atlantis who located the El Faro’s voyage data recorder Tuesday has determined it will

  • News

VIDEO: NTSB finds El Faro VDR

APRIL 26, 2016 — The National Transportation Safety Board reports that the voyage data recorder from the TOTE ship El Faro was located this morning in 15,000 feet of water, about 41

  • News

Judge sets deadline for filing El Faro claims

The Shipowners’ Limitation of Liability Act sets a formula for the amount at which total claims can be capped and yesterday, Judge Schlesinger ordered the vessel’s insurer, Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association Limited, to pay into court $15.3 million as surety for that amount, calculated as the value of the vessel (which is now zero), pending freight which is $2,072,703.50, and $420 per gross registered ton funds ($13,236,300) for death claims.

He also ordered that all claims in relation to the case must be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by December 21, 2015 and that any other actions “be hereby restrained, stayed, and enjoined until the hearing and determination of this action.”

A footnote to the ruling said, in part, “The Court notes the rarity of issuing an injunction when the Court has only heard from one side of a case. The admiralty rules are unique and call for such a situation.”

Read Judge Schlesinger’s order HERE

  • News

NTSB issues new update on El Faro investigation

On February 13, 2015, El Faro successfully completed the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) class and statutory surveys, meeting all rules and regulations as applicable. All deficiencies identified were rectified prior to completion of the surveys. None of the deficiencies were associated with El Faro’s main propulsion systems.

The annual inspection of El Faro, required by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), was completed by qualified USCG inspectors in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 6, 2015.

In June 2015, a qualified ABS surveyor examined and tested the main, auxiliary and emergency systems as part of the continuous machinery survey program and found them to be satisfactory.

TOTE told investigators that El Faro was scheduled to be removed from the route between Jacksonville and San Juan and redeployed to the U.S. West Coast where it would operate between Washington State and Alaska. In August, in order to prepare for this operational change, TOTE began to make modifications to the vessel while underway under the supervision of an additional chief engineer. Work on these modifications was performed by welders and machinists over many voyages, including during the accident voyage.

On September 11, 2015, TOTE received permission from the Coast Guard to shut down one of the ship’s two boilers so it could be inspected by an independent boiler service company during a voyage between San Juan and Jacksonville. As a result of the inspection, the boiler service company recommended service to both boilers during an upcoming drydock period that had already been scheduled for November 6, 2015. The boiler was returned to service following the inspection.
Interviews of relief crew and company management indicated that onboard safety drills were consistently conducted on a weekly basis. These included lifeboat drills for all crewmembers to ensure that all on board understood their responsibilities in an emergency.

Investigators interviewed two pilots that had guided El Faro in and out of the Port of Jacksonville; both reported that the vessel handled similarly to other vessels of its size and type.

The vessel’s terminal manager reported that El Faro met stability criteria when it left Jacksonville.The company’s procedures called for some cargo on the ship to be “double lashed” regardless of the weather expected to be encountered during the voyage. The vessel stevedores reported that prior to El Faro’s departure on the accident voyage, the cargo was secured in accordance with those procedures.

Before El Faro departed Jacksonville, Tropical Storm Joaquin was predicted to become a hurricane and a marine hurricane warning was issued by the National Hurricane Center’s Advisory #8 at 5:00 pm EDT on Sept. 29.

At about 8:15 pm EDT on Sept. 29, El Faro departed Jacksonville, Fla., for San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At 1:12 pm EDT on Sept. 30, the captain emailed a company safety official that he intended to take a route south of the predicted path of the hurricane and would pass about 65 miles from its center.

In an advisory issued at 2:00 am EDT on Oct. 1, the National Hurricane Center predicted seas of 30 feet with sustained winds of 64 knots (74 mph), increasing to 105 knots (121 mph) as the El Faro approached the wall of the eye of the hurricane.

In a recorded satellite phone call to the company’s emergency call center at 7:00 am EDT, the captain told the call center operator that he had a marine emergency. He reported that there was a hull breach, a scuttle had blown open, and that there was water in hold number 3. He also said that the ship had lost its main propulsion unit and the engineers could not get it going. The operator then connected the captain with the Designated Person Ashore (DPA). The DPA told investigators that the captain had communicated similar information to him that was provided to the call center operator, and also that the captain had estimated the height of the seas that El Faro was encountering to be 10 to 12 feet.

The USCG received electronic distress alerts from three separate sources on El Faro: the Ship’s Security Alert System (SSAS), the Inmarsat-C Alert, and the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).

According to electronic alert system data sent by the vessel at 7:17 am EDT on Oct. 1, its last reported position was about 20 miles from the edge of the eye of the hurricane.

The USCG did not have direct voice communications with El Faro, only electronic distress alerts.

The NTSB investigators that traveled to Florida have returned to continue work on the investigation from NTSB headquarters in Washington.

The NTSB contracted with the U.S. Navy to locate the ship, document the wreckage on the sea floor and recover the voyage data recorder.

The USNS Apache, a fleet ocean tug, was outfitted with specialized equipment for this mission, and departed Little Creek, Virginia, at about 4:30 pm EDT on October 19. In addition to the Navy crew, the NTSB investigator-in-Charge, Tom Roth-Roffy, is on Apache with representatives from the USCG, TOTE and ABS, all parties to the NTSB investigation.

The Apache is estimated to arrive at the last known position of El Faro on Saturday, October 24, to begin the search for the ship and to recover the voyage data recorder. Once the search operation begins, it is expected to take at least two weeks.

The length of the operation will depend on the circumstances encountered.Updates on the search for the vessel and the accident investigation will be issued as circumstances warrant.