Prevention Department News

Recent storms that crossed the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this week left multiple vessels, docks, and barges adrift, causing navigational safety issues around the areaThree 60-foot deck barges were adrift, causing an allision with the 3rd Street Bridge at McCovey Cove leading to Mission Creek. U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco's Prevention Department was made aware of the situation and broadcasted a Notice to Mariners, noting that the area was closed to navigation. A finalized assessment of the bridge is pending the completion of an inspection by engineers.

The U.S. Coast Guard will enforce a temporary safety zone in the Savannah River on Thursday for the import of the largest gauge ship-to-shore cranes in U.S. history.The Coast Guard said its captain of the Port Savannah would establish a safety zone during the import of the cranes to ensure the safety and security of the public and all vessels in the channel. The safety zone is expected to take place from 12:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Feb. 9.No Vessel Permitted in Safety Zone"Vessels are not permitted to enter into, transit through, moor, or anchor within 1,500 feet of the motor vessel Biglift Baffin. No vessels will be permitted in the safety zone 30 minutes prior to…

A private dive team will try to locate the source of a suspected oil spill spotted in the Bay Marchand area of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc in the region this week, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday.U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite images, first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday, showed a miles-long brownish-black slick spreading in coastal waters about two miles off Port Fourchon, Louisiana, an oil…

A 738-foot bulk carrier that ran aground near Sewell’s Point in Norfolk, Va. was refloated during high tide on Friday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said.It took seven tugs to refloat the Panamanian flagged Hong Dai, which grounded late Wednesday night with 22 crewmembers aboard. The ship was said to be carrying a cargo of coal, as well as 188,000 gallons of low sulfur fuel oil, diesel and lube oil, collectively. No injuries, pollution or flooding concerns were reported.The refloated…

Nearly 200 towing vessels and 600 barges are queued on the Intracoastal Waterway while salvors work to clear a halved and partially sunken rock barge near Berwick, La., the U.S. Coast Guard said.A section of waterway has been closed since Sunday night, when a towing vessel pushing six rock-filled hopper barges ran aground at mile marker 99.The push boat Miss Odessa was reportedly transiting southbound on the Atchafalaya River when it turned west onto the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and hit bottom. One of the barges, ACL 01700, split in half and sunk when the vessel attempted to break free.

Boriana Farrar is a familiar face in maritime circles, the Vice President and Counsel and a Senior Claims Executive and Business Development Director for the Americas at the Ship Owners Claims Bureau, Inc. managers of the American P&I Club. We met with her in her NYC office to discuss her path from her native Bulgaria to a top maritime professional position.When Boriana Farrar moved from her native Bulgaria to the United States in 2001, she did so to be close to family, her mother and her sister who had already established a life in the U.S., some 5,000 miles from her homeland.

The twists and turns of any marine casualty investigation can be unpredictable, but what is predictable is the potentially crushing cost to defend your license, livelihood and professional reputation.It was early afternoon on a late summer day in a busy commercial and fishing port in coastal New England. The captain of an offshore supply vessel was returning to his company’s dock and was lining up to transit past the harbor’s fixed storm mitigation gate when he decided to ‘bail out’ on his approach because the tide was ebbing and the outbound current of approximately two knots was offsetting his vessel to the east. No stranger to these waters…

UK P&I Club, a provider of P&I insurance and other services to the international shipping community, has launched Risk Ahoy, a new gaming app that highlights in an engaging and interactive manner the hazards face by those on board ships on a daily basis. Risk Ahoy has been developed by the loss prevention department of UK P&I Club, is available on iTunes and Google Playstore, and has been intuitively designed to allow users to dip in and out of the action, with short, medium and long modes available. Players navigate their ship through 38 colorful levels of increasingly challenging difficulty, working their way through the various mini-games, while identifying and avoiding common onboard hazards.

The UK P&I Club’s Loss Prevention Department, in conjunction with the IMCS Training Academy, advises on the importance of hatch cover maintenance: “Whether a ship’s hatch covers are weathertight is a seemingly simple question that should have a “Yes” or “No” answer. However, coming to the right conclusion is not as easy as may initially be assumed, requiring an understanding of hatch covers, their operation and industry requirements. “Ensuring hatch covers are well maintained…

Captain Jeffrey P. Novotny is Commanding Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center in Martinsburg, WV. He is responsible for all activities related to professional credentialing, training and assessments of the nation’s 215,000 merchant mariners. He graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. Prior to commanding the NMC, he was the Deputy Commander at the Coast Guard’s Deployable Operations Group. His duties included the oversight and responsibility for all personnel…

Rear Admiral Paul Thomas is the Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy overseeing three Coast Guard directorates: Inspections and Compliance, Marine Transportation Systems, and Commercial Regulations and Standards. The programs include waterways management, navigation and boating safety, ports and facilities, merchant mariner credentialing, vessel documentation, marine casualty investigation, commercial vessel inspections, and port state control. A longtime specialist in Marine Safety…

U.S. Coast Guard personnel on Monday detained the oil tanker Overseas Jademar in Port Angeles after several safety violations were discovered during a port state control exam. Marshall Island-flagged tanker Overseas Jademar was en route from Malaysia to Anacortes, Washington to offload cargo when Port State Control officers from Sector Puget Sound found several significant safety violations during a port state control exam. The ship will remain detained in Sector Puget Sound's Captain of the Port zone until the safety violations are corrected. The deficiencies found onboard included nonfunctioning distress signaling equipment and fire safety systems.

Coast Guard personnel detained the tanker Overseas Jademar in Port Angeles, Monday. Port State Control officers, from Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, discovered several significant safety violations during a port state control exam of the Marshall Island-flagged tanker, which will remain detained in Sector Puget Sound's Captain of the Port zone until the safety violations are corrected. The deficiencies found onboard included non-functioning distress signaling equipment and fire safety systems. The electronic position indicating radio beacon, an essential piece of distress equipment that notifies authorities of the crew's location in the event of an emergency, was found non-functional.

The North P&I club has warned its members to check their new ships very carefully before accepting delivery. The club said in the latest issue of its loss prevention newsletter Signals that it has become aware of several of instances of potentially dangerous poor construction in the newbuilding market. The club reports that ships are being delivered with cargo hold access ladders, platforms and their cages constructed and secured to the bulkheads only by tack welds, rather than being fully welded. “When subject to a load or any other applied stress, such as vessel movement, the tack welds have failed and resulted in an unsafe access to and from the cargo hold. In addition to accidents North warns that defects can also result in costly delays and port state control problems.

The Federal Rideau, a 656-foot freighter that had been hard aground in the downbound shipping channel of Lake St. Clair since early Sunday morning, was refloated early Tuesday morning and is now safely anchored in the Detroit River at the Belle Island Anchorage. Divers are scheduled to conduct a damage assessment survey of the vessel, and repairs will be made if necessary. There is no resultant pollution and no injuries were reported. At around 3 a.m. Sunday, response coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received notice that the motor vessel Federal Rideau…

The U.S. Coast Guard said it continues to monitor the response and salvage operations to the 656-foot HK-flagged bulk carrier Federal Rideau, hard aground in the downbound shipping channel of Lake St. Clair since early Sunday morning. Several attempts to refloat the vessel have been unsuccessful since then and five tugs have been dispatched for another attempt. Initial reports indicate there is no resultant pollution and no injuries were reported. At around 3 a.m. Sunday, response coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received notice that the motor vessel Federal Rideau, grounded in the downbownd channel in Lake St. Clair near the Detroit River. The vessel is carrying approximately 22,672 tons of wheat.

The Coast Guard has responded Sunday to a 656-foot freighter that was hard aground in the downbound shipping channel of Lake St. Clair. Initial reports indicate there is no resultant pollution and no injuries were reported. At around 3 a.m., response coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received notice that the motor vessel Federal Rideau, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel, grounded on the downbownd channel in Lake St. Clair near the Detroit River. The vessel is carrying approximately 22,672 tons of wheat. Coast Guard marine inspectors from Coast Guard Sector Detroit Prevention Department responded to the grounding to assess the situation and determine the extent of any structural damage to the vessel.

The Coast Guard informs it is responding to a 36,563 dwt 656-foot freighter that is hard aground in the downbound shipping channel of Lake St. Clair. Coast Guard Sector Detroit said that the motor vessel Federal Rideau, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel carrying 22,672 tons of wheat, had  grounded on the downbownd channel in Lake St. Clair near the Detroit River. The vessel was  en route to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Marine inspectors from Coast Guard Sector Detroit Prevention Department responded to the grounding to assess the situation and determine the extent of any structural damage to the vessel. Initial reports indicate there is no resultant pollution and no injuries were reported.

Braemar (Incorporating The Salvage Association), announces important new additions to its worldwide team of marine surveyors and consultants, as well as the opening of two new locations. In the New York office, John Walker will be joining Braemar SA as Chief Surveyor, P&I and Legal Services Manager for the Americas, bringing with him experience in marine consultancy at a senior level. Also new to the New York office is Luca Bruga, a naval architect, who will be joining as a Staff Surveyor.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit (MSU) Savannah informs it has held a change of command ceremony to formally recognize transfer of command of the unit from Cmdr. Joseph Loring to Cmdr. Amy Beach. Cmdr. Loring served as commander of MSU Savannah for the past three years and is departing to continue his service at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Loring said Savannah has an excellent and strong maritime community and provides unparalleled military support, and the MSU does great work so it is hard for him to leave. “I’ve had a great tour,” he added. Cmdr. Amy Beach  who previously served as chief of the prevention department at Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound in New Haven…

The Club advises of US PSC detentions of vessels where water mist systems have been found disabled or otherwise left in an inoperable condition. The detentions follow inspections by Port State Control (PSC) where the system water supply valve has been found in the “closed” position, deeming the system 'not readily available for immediate use' in the event of an Engine Room fire. This valve is often closed to prevent accidental operation during maintenance and not returned to the open position once maintenance is completed. It is advised that the regular checks of the Water Mist System are carried out to ensure proper valve alignment. In addition, it is advised that proper labeling and procedures are established to ensure that the valve is not overlooked and accidently left closed.

The Managers have recently completed production work on the Club’s latest Loss Prevention DVD  -“ Groundings – Shallow Waters, Deep Trouble”. The consequences of a vessel running aground vary in severity, but they are potentially devastating. In those instances where the vessel becomes a constructive total loss, environmental damage arises or is threatened, and there is a requirement to remove the wreck, the resulting liabilities can be enormous. In many countries the cost of wreck removal is not constrained by limitation…

Salvage crews began tow operations for the fishing vessel Lone Star near Dillingham, Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported today. The crew of the tug Double Eagle, with assistance from the crew of the support vessel Western Viking, will tow the Lone Star to Dutch Harbor where its owner will determine whether or not to scrap the vessel. “The removal of the Lone Star has been a long process, and we appreciate the work and support of the salvage crew and our agency partners throughout the response,” said Lt. Daniel Peters of the Sector Anchorage prevention department.