Bow Mariner News

For years, the shipping industry has focused on regulations and procedures to improve safety. Yet shipping is still at risk of major accidents. The whole industry needs to change its focus. Ticking boxes never made anyone safer. Also, assessing culture using valid and reliable survey instruments can help to improve safety.It has been well documented that most maritime accidents (~80%) are caused by human error. Still, most of the focus on learning is rooted in technical causes and adding procedures and checklists.Despite this bias…

On August 18, 1990, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) was enacted into law. Section 4202 of that Act amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA or Clean Water Act) to require tank vessels and marine transportation-related facilities to prepare and submit to the US Coast Guard plans for responding, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worse case discharge, and to a substantial threat of such a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance carried in bulk as cargo.

The 570-foot Singapore-flagged chemical & oil tanker Bow Mariner sank 15 years ago when the ship caught fire and sustained two explosions, resulting in the deaths of 21 out of 27 crew members, 45-miles off the coast of Virginia, Feb. 28, 2004.The vessel was transporting over three million gallons of ethyl alcohol on a voyage from New York to Texas. It had previously carried methyl tert-butyl ether, MTBE, in its other 22 cargo tanks that were discharged in New York.The cause of…

1867-  As ordered by the Treasury Department, each officer of Revenue Cutter Service, while on duty, was entitled to one Navy ration per day. 1871- Congress passed 16 Stat. 458 which addressed shortcomings in previous legislation regarding the inspection and certification of steamboats and their crews. This Act established the Steamboat Inspection Service within the Department of Treasury headed by a Supervisory Inspector General answerable to the Treasury Secretary. The Act also provided SIS inspectors with greater authority over more aspects of the maritime field. 1942- Certain duties of former Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation transferred to Coast Guard temporarily by Executive Order 9083. The transfer was made permanent on July 16, 1946. Also, the U.S.

On Saturday, February 28, the 570-ft. chemical tanker Bow Mariner apparently caught fire and exploded about 50 miles off the coast off Chincoteague, Virginia. As of Monday, March 1, only nine of the 27 crew have been accounted for; six alive and three dead, while it appears that the search for the remaining 18 crew members will be called off. The tanker was carrying a reported 3.5 million gallons of industrial grade ethanol, and an estimated 193,000 gallons of bunker fuel. It exploded shortly after 6 p.m. and sank at approximately 7:30 p.m. The Singapore-flagged was owned by Odfjell and operated by Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises Ltd. in Greece. It was transiting from New York to Houston with 24 Filipino and three Greek crewmembers.

A fire-damaged lifeboat from the Bow Mariner drifts Feb. 29, 2004, after the vessel sank the night before off Chincoteague, Va. The U.S. Coast Guard flights continues off the coast of Virginia to search for survivors and to survey the state of the fuel oil spilled from the chemical tanker which exploded and sank Saturday evening. The vessel, T/V Bow Mariner, a Singapore-flagged chemical tanker, had left Linden, New Jersey for Texas City, Texas, carrying a partial cargo of 3.2 million gallons of ethanol.

A fire-damaged lifeboat from the Bow Mariner drifts Feb. 29, 2004, after the vessel sank the night before off Chincoteague, Va. The U.S. Coast Guard flights continues off the coast of Virginia to search for survivors and to survey the state of the fuel oil spilled from the chemical tanker which exploded and sank Saturday evening. The vessel, T/V Bow Mariner, a Singapore-flagged chemical tanker, had left Linden, New Jersey for Texas City, Texas, carrying a partial cargo of 3.2 million gallons of ethanol.

The U.S. Coast Guard is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Rude and will use Side Scan Sonar technology to check the condition of the T/V Bow Mariner that exploded and sank Saturday night. The 90-foot Norfolk, Va., based NOAA Ship Rude is equipped with side scan sonar technology and will sweep the area where the T/V Bow Mariner sank to acquire imagery of the condition of the vessel. This is not the first time the Rude has been used for missions like this. Previously, the RUDE assisted with the search and recovery of TWA flight 800 in 1996 and the search and recovery operations of John F. Kennedy Jr’s aircraft and Egypt Air flight 990 off the Massachusetts coast in 1999.

According to the Coast Guard, the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) oil recovery vessel VIRGINIA RESPONDER began skimming operations, however, recoverable oil is widely dispersed and the amount recovered has been minimal to date. A helicopter has been flying throughout the day to locate patches of oil and direct the skimming vessel. The oil spill recovery vessel has been on-scene since Monday prepared to recover oil. Previous flights of the area located oil that was too spotty, patchy and widely dispersed to efficiently pick-up. On-scene conditions are favorable. During a Tuesday over flight, patches of oil were located in the area where the T/V BOW MARINER sank Saturday night.

Oil skimming was suspended this weekend as bad weather moved toward the site where the tanker T/V BOW MARINER exploded and sank off the Virginia coast Saturday night. Helicopter over-flights showed the oil was mostly in thin sheens on the water, strung out in long streamers, and widely separated, limiting the amount the skimming vessel, the VIRGINIA RESPONDER, was able to recover. The sixth and final member of the crew was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. All of the survivors have had an opportunity to meet with diplomatic officials from their native Philippine Islands, and have had an opportunity to call their families. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel RUDE made a second attempt to obtain images of the sunken vessel with its side-scan sonar.

The Coast Guard has released two multi-beam sonar images taken by the NOAA ship Rude of the sunken tanker Bow Mariner. The images, taken March 4, are among a suite of side-scan sonar and multi-beam images provided by RUDE to the Coast Guard for use in its investigation of the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel on February 28. Rude (pronounced Rudy) found the wreck on March 2, and initial side-scan imagery showed the placement and orientation of Bow Mariner. However, Rude had to discontinue operations because of bad weather.

Legislation to authorize more than $7.9 billion for the Coast Guard for Fiscal Year 2005, including $1.1 billion for the Deepwater project, was unanimously approved by the U.S. House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee today. Deepwater is the Coast Guard’s program to replace and modernize its operational capital assets. The Coast Guard’s fleet is rapidly deteriorating, leading to higher safety risks and maintenance costs, and a lower state of readiness. At a Subcommittee hearing last week, the Commandant of the Coast Guard expressed concern that assets are wearing out faster than anticipated. The Coast Guard Authorization Act for FY 2005 (H.R. * U.S. Rep. * U.S. Rep. * U.S. Rep. * U.S. Rep. H.R.

SMIT Salvage was contracted to assist in locating the missing 18 seamen of the sunken tanker ‘Bow Mariner’ in the U.S. SMIT will deploy an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and specialized divers to locate the missing crewmembers of this accident. SMIT’s second task is to remove the bunker oil from the tanker that lies in the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of approximately 264 feet, 50 nautical miles off the coast of Virginia. Until now heavy weather has prevented the ROV from being launched to begin the search for the missing seamen of the vessel and from making video footage to determine whether there remain recoverable quantities of ethanol and fuel oil in the vessel.

The operation to locate and recover the missing crew from the Bow Mariner and remove fuel oil ended Friday, March 26, with the approval of the Coast Guard. The salvage effort was called off after a comprehensive search using a sophisticated ROV (remotely operated vehicle), an analysis of high-resolution video images and evaluating extensive soundings of the sunken vessel's fuel tanks. "We are saddened because we did not locate any of the 18 missing seamen," said a joint statement by Ceres and Odfjell, respectively the managers and owners of the Bow Mariner. Salvage experts retained by Ceres and Odfjell presented the results of their findings to Coast Guard officers at Norfolk's Marine Safety Office Friday.

Odfjell's consolidated net result after tax was $34 million the first quarter 2004 compared to $18 million 1Q 2003. The first quarter 2004 figure includes capital gains on assets of $9 million. Time-charter results per day improved by 9 percent compared to first quarter 2003 and to the full year 2003. Increased voyage expenses reflect the increased number of ships in the fleet. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for first quarter 2004 were $53 million, up from $41 million first quarter 2003. Operating result (EBIT), including capital gain on assets, was $38 million in the first quarter 2004, compared to $19 million in the first quarter 2003.

INTERTANKO has recorded 60 tanker incidents during the first part of 2004, most of them minor with no resultant pollution or loss of life. This compares to the 130 tanker incidents reported for the whole of 2003. The biggest pollution incident during the first half of 2004 appeared to be 200 tonnes oil lost from the Everton, which was laden with 80,400 tonnes of crude oil. The tanker caught fire off the Gulf of Oman on 22 March 2004 and was abandoned by its crew. The oil was reported to have been mainly burnt up. One seafarer was reported missing after this incident. The other pollution incidents recorded were very minor. As in 2003 the most serious tanker incidents in 2004 have involved fire and explosion (F&E). Sadly we have reports of 44 people killed or missing.

According to reports, the explosion that destroyed a tanker and killed 21 crew in 2004 was caused by the captain's unsafe order to his crew to open vapor-filled cargo tanks for cleaning, the Coast Guard said in a report Tuesday. Opening the hatches on 22 empty tanks caused the highly flammable vapors to escape onto the deck, where the crew of the Bow Mariner was working, according to the report. A spark ignited the mixture of air and vapors from a gasoline additive, the investigators said. The investigation also found that Capt. Efstratios Kavouras abandoned ship without sending a distress call or trying to save his crew, contributing to the high death toll. The 570-ft.

The investigation of the Feb. 28, 2004 sinking of a chemical tank ship off the coast of Virginia has been completed. A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday January 3, 2006, at 10 a.m. to be held at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads at 200 Granby Street, in Norfolk. The speaker will be Capt. Robert O' Brien, Captain of the Port of Hampton Roads. He will be accompanied by Jerry Crooks, Chief of Investigations at Sector Hampton Roads. The Bow Mariner, a 570-foot, 40,000-ton tanker exploded with 27 people aboard. It was carrying 3.2 million gallons of industrial-grade ethanol, plus 200,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil and 53,000 gallons of diesel oil.

Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., are scheduled to be recognized in a ceremony Feb. 22 at 11 a.m. at the air station. The recognition is for the crewmembers' heroism during the Coast Guard’s response to a chemical tanker explosion off the coast of Virginia nearly a year ago. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and Coast Guard Fifth District Commander, Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara, are both scheduled to take part in the ceremony. Among the awardees is Petty Officer William (Dave) Foreman, a rescue swimmer who is being awarded the distinguished Coast Guard Medal. The Coast Guard Medal is one of the highest awards in the service.