Cougar Ace News

With the accession by Finland to the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (better known as the Ballast Water Management or BWM Convention), there are now sufficient ratifications for the Convention to enter into force. Entry into force will occur on 8 September 2017. It has been an agonizingly slow process for a convention that was adopted with such high hopes. Starting in the late 1970s as vessels became larger and faster…

After many years of negotiation, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted on 16 February 2004 by an international conference sponsored by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention was a major step forward in reducing the risk of the introduction of non-indigenous aquatic species into local marine ecosystems by means of the discharge of ballast water from ships arriving from distant locations.

Ballast water was first recognized by the scientific community as a vector for transfer of potentially invasive marine species more than 30 years ago. It took a number of years, and acceptance that zebra mussels had reached the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ships arriving from the Black Sea, before the maritime industry generally acknowledged that they were part of the problem. Initially, high seas ballast water exchange was the only available means for removing potentially invasive species from the tanks. That methodology presented risks to the stability of the ship (and the safety of the crew), as illustrated by the near-loss of the car carrier Cougar Ace in 2006 in waters of the North Pacific Ocean just south of the Aleutian Chain.

Crowley Maritime Corporation yesterday christened the Marty J, the first of three Heavy Lift 455 Series barges, which have been under construction at Gunderson Marine in Portland, Oregon. The three 400-foot by 105-foot-wide deck barges are being built to be utilized for project work in the offshore energy industry in the Gulf of Mexico. The addition of these vessels will expand and keep current Crowley's fleet for customers of the company's marine services business segment. During a ceremony held at Gunderson Marine on Northwest Front Avenue, Nicole Murphy, sister of Fontain Martin "Marty" Johnson III, christened the barge. The Marty J was so named as a tribute to Johnson, a nine-year Crowley employee who died while on a salvage assignment onboard the Cougar Ace in July of last year.

Mazda Motor Corporation said that all of the U.S.- and Canada-bound Mazda vehicles from the car-carrying vessel, Cougar Ace, which nearly capsized off the Aleutian Islands in late July, would be scrapped. The Cougar Ace sat listing at more than 60-degrees for nearly a month after an incident at sea, before it could be towed to the Port of Portland, Ore., for repairs and to have its cargo off-loaded. O'Sullivan added that although some of the Mazdas aboard the Cougar Ace showed little or no visible damage from being tied-down at severe angles for an extended period, the potential for future problems led the company to reconsider its initial decision to sell any of the vehicles as used.

Titan worldwide salvage company and subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corporation, redelivered the car carrier Cougar Ace to owners yesterday in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The vessel was delivered safely afloat in a condition acceptable to the vessel owners. The vessel still has a small list to port to contain the small pockets of water still onboard, but is well within the vessel's normal operating parameters. The ship, operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), is loaded with approximately 5,000 automobiles bound for the U.S. and Canada. This concludes a 24-day salvage job that started with the vessel listing 70 degrees to port, in the North Pacific. The U.S. Coast Guard had removed the crew of the Cougar Ace from the vessel while it was adrift south of the Aleutian Islands.

The Unified Command issued a situation report stating that the Cougar Ace is now stable. The ship’s emergency generator is on line and plans call for the service generator to be brought back on line when the salvor releases the ship back to the owner. Most decks suffered some vehicle damage and the vehicles must be re-secured. Currently, the water and sewage systems, fire main, and low pressure CO2 systems are inoperable. Source: HK Law

A Unified Command of federal, state and shipping company representatives continues to make efforts to right the ship Cougar Ace and plan contingencies for towing to an appropriate port of refuge if those efforts are not effective. These efforts are in response to the vessel's July 24 listing in the North Pacific Ocean. With the arrival of a new naval architect and an additional team of salvage professionals at the scene late tonight, a second, more extensive examination of the vessel will take place. Two pumps and other needed equipment were off-loaded from the Makushin Bay onto the Cougar Ace on Tuesday night for an intended rigging of pumps to begin this afternoon. Another pump is still to be placed on board. The pumps will be set up in series to allow them to function more effectively.

The Alaska Coast Guard is reporting that a member of a salvage team looking at how to stabilize a listing ship in the Aleutian Islands died when he lost his footing, slid down the ship's deck and hit his head. A team of four was prepping to leave the Cougar Ace on July 30 when a naval architect slipped and was knocked unconscious. He was flown to a Coast Guard cutter nearby with a doctor and a clinic but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was declared dead about an hour later. The four-member salvage team had just completed an internal survey of the ship and was preparing to disembark when the accident occurred. The accident is under investigation from the Coast Guard. (Source: Alaska Report)

A Mitsui O.S.K. cargo ship listing in rough seas near Alaska's Aleutian Islands might be leaking fuel from its tanks, the U.S. Coast Guard said. According to Bloomberg, observers have reported a light and broken sheen extending two miles around the vessel, which is carrying 430 metric tons of fuel oil and 112 metric tons of diesel.. Mitsui's Cougar Ace, which has a cargo of at least 4,700 Mazda Motor Corp. vehicles estimated to be worth $117.5m, foundered on July 22 while en route to Tacoma, Wash. A team from salvage company Crowley Marine is due to reach the location of the Cougar Ace, about 230 miles south of the Aleutian Islands, on August 2, with the aim of towing the ship to a nearby port. (Source: Bloomberg)

The fate of thousands of Mazda Motor Corp. cars is uncertain after the ship carrying them to North America rolled over on its side in the Pacific Ocean. The automaker had 4,700 vehicles aboard the automobile carrier Cougar Ace that began taking on water on July 23 and listed so heavily that the 23 member crew had to be rescued the following day the US Coast Guard. The 199.3 m Mitsui OSK. Lines ship was still afloat on July 26 with its keel and propeller out of the water, but did not appear to be sinking, a US Coast Guard spokesman said. Mazda imports most of its vehicles to North America from Japan. The shipment aboard the Cougar Ace was bound for Vancouver, B.C., Tacoma, Wash., and then Port Hueneme near Ventura, Calif. More than half the cars on board are Mazda 3 models.

A Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter and crew from Air Station Kodiak, worked with two Air National Guard Pavehawk helicopters and rescue crews from Kulis Air National Guard Base, to successfully hoist the 23 crewmembers of the Cougar Ace to safety. The operation began at 9:05 p.m, on July 24. By 9:30 p.m., the first seven crewmembers were hoisted from the vessel by a Pavehawk helicopter. At 9:43 p.m., the Coast Guard helicopter and crew had hoisted the next eight, departing for Adak at 9:51 p.m. The second Pavehawk helicopter hoisted the remaining crewmembers at 10:09 p.m., after completing a mid-air refueling from a nearby Air National Guard C-130 tanker. Weather conditions during the operation were overcast skies with 8-knot winds.

Rescuers from the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard saved 23 crew members from an Asian cargo ship taking on water south of the Aleutian Islands, officials said. "People are out of harm's way, they are rescued and they are safe,'' said Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Haller late Monday. All 23 crew members were hoisted into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Adak Island in the Aleutians. The rescue was conducted in very challenging weather, said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. A nearby merchant marine vessel was standing by to take any crew member who couldn't fit on the three helicopters…