Speed Reduction Led to Vessel Collision on the Neches River

A pilot's decision to reduce the speed of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier resulted in reduced rudder effectiveness, ultimately leading to a collision with a moored tug on the Neches River, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found.

In November 2021, a state licensed pilot from the Sabine Pilots took navigational control of the 754-foot-long Gas Ares as it was heading to load a cargo of propane and butane at the no. 1 loading dock at Sunoco Logistics, located in Nederland, Texas, on the Neches River. Due to wind conditions, the pilot planned to have an escort tug for the transit through the Sabine Neches Canal and Neches River.

After the pilot arranged a passing with a tow, the pilot ordered the Gas Ares to dead slow ahead to avoid making a wake as the carrier passed a pipeline removal project to starboard near the shoreline (outside of the navigation channel). Winds were strong on the carrier’s starboard side, slowly setting the vessel—which was already on the left side of the 400-foot-wide channel for the passing arrangement with the tow—further toward the left side of the channel toward vessels moored at docks on that side of the channel.

With the reduction of the ship’s speed, the Gas Ares’s rudder became less effective, and was not able to move the vessel to starboard and away from the moored vessels on the left side of the channel by rudder and engine alone or by using the 6,000-hp tractor tug Hayley Moran to pull on the vessel’s starboard quarter. Without enough headway, the pilot was unable to steer the vessel back to the center of the channel and avoid striking the outboard moored tug Sabine, which had four crew members on board.

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the collision was the pilot’s decision to reduce the vessel’s speed in order to create less wake when passing a pipeline removal project, causing a loss of rudder effectiveness in strong crosswinds that set the carrier toward moored vessels.

The Gas Ares had 24 persons on board at the tie of the incident, and no injuries or pollution were reported. Damage to the tugs and dock was estimated at $1,057,000.