another evergreen containership runs aground, this time in Chesapeake bay near Baltimore
- Thread starter Foreverslow
- Start date
Boathavn
Hof & Gammel Dansk - Skål !
The Allianz Safety and Shipping Review Report is out for 2022
Good reading for the armchair salvor. Link:
https://www.agcs.allianz.com/news-and-insights/reports/shipping-safety.html
Requires an email to download, or scroll down and view last year's report as a direct download.
Bottom line: A positive trend in safety, but future bigger ships portend of bigger disasters.
Good reading for the armchair salvor. Link:
https://www.agcs.allianz.com/news-and-insights/reports/shipping-safety.html
Requires an email to download, or scroll down and view last year's report as a direct download.
Bottom line: A positive trend in safety, but future bigger ships portend of bigger disasters.
SloopJonB
Super Anarchist
There's an Evergreen container ship anchored in English Bay right now and it looks down by the head quite a bit.
Is that shipping line one of the really trashy ones?
Anybody know?
Is that shipping line one of the really trashy ones?
Anybody know?
Talchotali
Capt. Marvel's Wise Friend
Some good dirt starting to filter in about the Evergreen Ever Forward grounding in Baltimore - stay tuned...
Per Sal, the pilots were perhaps not as attentive as they should have been.
Courtesy Chesapeake Bay Magazine - July 12, 2022
Per Sal, the pilots were perhaps not as attentive as they should have been.
Ever Forward Makes (Uneventful) Return to Port of Baltimore
Courtesy Chesapeake Bay Magazine - July 12, 2022
It was a better visit to Baltimore for the 1,095-foot container ship Ever Forward last week than it was the last time it came to town. After leaving the Port of Baltimore on March 13, the ship ran aground north of the Bay Bridge where it sat until April 17 before being refloated. Bay Bulletin closely tracked the month-long operation to dislodge the ship from the Bay’s silty bottom.
This time, Ever Forward arrived and departed Seagirt Terminal without incident.
The ship had traveled from Hong Kong on June 5, making a stop in Panama before arriving in Baltimore on July 7. After unloading and loading cargo, it departed on July 10 (and was in Savannah, Ga. as of Tuesday) and will cross the Panama Canal on August 6 with a return to Hong Kong a week before Labor Day. If you missed seeing it this time, the huge ship makes a return in October. The name Ever Forward is appropriate.
One fact becoming almost routine in the shipping industry is the larger the ship, the lower the cost to transport products. Evergreen Marine Corporation owns the largest ships, all of which begin with the name “Ever.” Launched in June of this year, Ever Alot is the biggest of all, measing 1,309 feet from bow to stern. While putting more-cargo-on-one-ship approach is economical, there’s are problems when navigating passages that aren’t updated for these larger lengths. Last year, Evergreen’s Ever Given got stuck in the Panama Canal for six days, blocking more than 400 ships from traversing the key waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. And last March, Ever Forward with a required 46-foot depth had problems when a wrong turn was taken leaving Seagirt, ending up in just 24 feet of water.
After dredging and then removing 500 of the 5,000 containers aboard, the ship was able to, well, move forward. U.S. Coast Guard Baltimore says that incident is still under investigation.
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Talchotali
Capt. Marvel's Wise Friend
Sal (What is going on with shipping?) talks about the continuing Ever Forward investigation - or perhaps he doesn't.
Smiley Junction
Member
Only if they’re also tigers.Shrimpe cane reade charttes? They our smarttere then moeste peopel?
Chris in Santa Cruz CA
Super Anarchist
Typo there. Suez, not Panama canal. Panama registered.
Talchotali
Capt. Marvel's Wise Friend
Ever Forward - No Investigation?
From www.maritimesafetyinnovation.org:
From www.maritimesafetyinnovation.org:
Ever Forward: Where are the Lessons Learned?
“Lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten.”
MV Ever Forward grounded in the Chesapeake Bay south of Baltimore on March 13, 2022. The vessel was refloated on April 17 after 206,280 cubic yards of material was dredged from around the vessel, a historic lightering operation took place over the course of a week to remove 500 containers and a small fleet of tugs and specialized salvage equipment was assembled.
It was reported after Ever Forward was refloated that the U.S. Coast Guard was conducting an investigation. Contact with the public affairs office for their Sector Maryland – National Capital Region failed to verify this and a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act has been submitted.
Unofficial sources indicate that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is not conducting an investigation into the Ever Forward grounding and a search of their docket reveals no such investigation. Workboat magazine ran an article in 2019 discussing the criteria for NTSB to conduct an investigation into a maritime incident, which follows.
- The loss of six or more lives.
- The loss of a mechanically propelled vessel of 100 or more gross tons.
- Property damage initially estimated as $500,000 or more.
- Serious threat, as determined by the USCG commandant and concurred with by the NTSB chairman, to life, property, or the environment by hazardous materials.
In the end, why should we, the maritime industry, care? Why would we want to find out why a 1,000+ foot ship went aground just outside a busy port?
Is it because the Ever Forward has returned on her regularly scheduled voyages?
Is it because other ships of the same class regularly call on the Port of Baltimore? Most recently this was Ever Favor this past Wednesday.
Whether it is the International Maritime Organization, P&I clubs or the U.S. Coast Guard themselves, effort is being made on a continuing basis to identify lessons learned from incidents so that others might not have the same incidents.
So, where are the lessons learned from the grounding of Ever Forward? Or will we wait until the next time to investigate?
nolatom
Super Anarchist
It's not uncommon for the Coast Guard Investigation Reports to take a year or more before they've been reviewed within that chain of command and finally published. The NTSB, on the other hand, are typically much earlier in releasing prelim or interim reports to the public. If they declined to investigate here, I'm somewhat surprised.
What wouldn't surprise me is if the Pilot association said nothing publicly, they are typically closed-mouth and clannish.
It might be as simple as "make the turn when the channel turns"? With discussion as to who (state pilot, or bridge crew, or both), didn't:
What wouldn't surprise me is if the Pilot association said nothing publicly, they are typically closed-mouth and clannish.
It might be as simple as "make the turn when the channel turns"? With discussion as to who (state pilot, or bridge crew, or both), didn't:
kent_island_sailor
Super Anarchist
NTSB <> FAA, DOT, FRA, USCG, Etc.
The USCG can investigate all they want and probably are. The NTSB won't come out if you run over a runway light with your airplane either, but the FAA might
Besides for that, "I didn't follow the channel because I'm an idiot" has been running boats aground for about 5,000 years now, not a whole lot to learn here
The USCG can investigate all they want and probably are. The NTSB won't come out if you run over a runway light with your airplane either, but the FAA might
Besides for that, "I didn't follow the channel because I'm an idiot" has been running boats aground for about 5,000 years now, not a whole lot to learn here
Tacoma Mud Flats
Have star, will steer by
Finally!
Courtesy of AP
FILE - Tugboats, bottom, align a barge near the container ship Ever Forward, top, which ran aground in March 2022 as workers remove containers from it in efforts to lighten the load and refloat the vessel, April 13, 2022, in Pasadena, Md. The ship has been stuck in the channel since March 13. A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay is faulting the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay faulted the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway, saying he relied too much on one piece of equipment to navigate and was on his cellphone in the runup to the grounding.
In a news release Tuesday the Coast Guard specifically cited “the pilot’s failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating, and inadequate bridge resource management.” A more detailed report described the lead-up to the moments when the Ever Forward ran aground March 13 north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while it was traveling from the Port of Baltimore to Norfolk, Virginia.
It took authorities a little over a month to dislodge the Taiwan-based container ship — longer than three football fields — from the muddy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.
In the detailed report, the Coast Guard said they didn’t find mechanical issues or equipment failures but instead painted a picture of a pilot tasked with guiding the ship who was frequently on his phone in the lead-up to the grounding. While a ship is captained by a “master,” pilots are often the ones who guide ships through specific passages like a river or bay where they have knowledge of the waterways. A Maryland State Pilot was on board the Ever Forward.
“Had Pilot 1 refrained from drafting email correspondence, and placing and receiving personal or non-urgent professional calls, it is possible he would have maintained better situational awareness and properly executed the turn in a timely manner, avoiding the vessel grounding,” according to the report.
The investigation also found that the pilot only used one piece of equipment — his Portable Pilot Unit — to navigate the vessel and did not use any of the ships charts or equipment or navigational buoys that marked the channel’s southern turn. The report said that if the pilot had used “all available means to determine the ship’s location, the grounding likely would not have occurred.”
Cultural differences might have also played into the grounding. The report said other crew members on the bridge during the run-up to the grounding saw that the pilot was “frequently on his cellphone and appeared agitated.” At one point, one officer, a Chinese national, thought the ship had missed where they were supposed to turn, but instead of telling the pilot directly the officer repeated the heading multiple times as a way to nudge the pilot.
The investigation found that the Chinese officer was hesitant to question the pilot’s expertise. The report said this might have been due to the Chinese officer fearing he would offend the pilot or “cultural differences regarding seniority.”
The ship became stuck outside the shipping channel and did not block marine navigation, unlike last year’s high-profile grounding in the Suez Canal of its sister vessel, the Ever Given. That incident disrupted ship traffic and the global supply chain for days.
In a statement Tuesday, the Maryland Board of Pilots also said that they were suspending the pilot’s operating license.
Full report:
Updated: 12:58 PM EST Dec 6, 2022
Blair Young
Digital Editor
containers removed from ever forward
SOURCE: WBAL-TV\SkyTeam 11
Captain Steven Germac was operating the ship when it became stuck in the Bay for over five weeks back in March.
The Maryland Department of Labor Chief Strategy Officer Joseph E. Farren released the following statement regarding their decision:
"After thorough review of evidence and expert analysis in the investigation of the March 13, 2022 grounding of the MV Ever Forward, the Maryland Board of Pilots (Board), in a unanimous decision, voted to summarily suspend the operating license of Captain Steven Germac on October 20, 2022, and formally notified Captain Germac by letter dated October 21, 2022.
"Captain Germac was the pilot of the MV Ever Forward at the time of its grounding. As part of the Board’s statutory process, Captain Germac will be afforded an opportunity for a hearing to formally challenge the Board’s decision in this matter. Captain Germac has not piloted a commercial vessel since March 13, 2022."
Coast Guard faults pilot in Chesapeake Bay ship grounding
By REBECCA SANTANA, todayCourtesy of AP
FILE - Tugboats, bottom, align a barge near the container ship Ever Forward, top, which ran aground in March 2022 as workers remove containers from it in efforts to lighten the load and refloat the vessel, April 13, 2022, in Pasadena, Md. The ship has been stuck in the channel since March 13. A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay is faulting the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Coast Guard investigation into the grounding in March of a cargo ship in the Chesapeake Bay faulted the pilot tasked with helping the ship navigate the waterway, saying he relied too much on one piece of equipment to navigate and was on his cellphone in the runup to the grounding.
In a news release Tuesday the Coast Guard specifically cited “the pilot’s failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating, and inadequate bridge resource management.” A more detailed report described the lead-up to the moments when the Ever Forward ran aground March 13 north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while it was traveling from the Port of Baltimore to Norfolk, Virginia.
It took authorities a little over a month to dislodge the Taiwan-based container ship — longer than three football fields — from the muddy bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.
In the detailed report, the Coast Guard said they didn’t find mechanical issues or equipment failures but instead painted a picture of a pilot tasked with guiding the ship who was frequently on his phone in the lead-up to the grounding. While a ship is captained by a “master,” pilots are often the ones who guide ships through specific passages like a river or bay where they have knowledge of the waterways. A Maryland State Pilot was on board the Ever Forward.
According to the investigation, the pilot placed or received five phone calls from his personal phone after they left the dock, including one that lasted nearly an hour. He also sent two text messages during a “critical time period” before a turn south should have been executed.
“Had Pilot 1 refrained from drafting email correspondence, and placing and receiving personal or non-urgent professional calls, it is possible he would have maintained better situational awareness and properly executed the turn in a timely manner, avoiding the vessel grounding,” according to the report.
The investigation also found that the pilot only used one piece of equipment — his Portable Pilot Unit — to navigate the vessel and did not use any of the ships charts or equipment or navigational buoys that marked the channel’s southern turn. The report said that if the pilot had used “all available means to determine the ship’s location, the grounding likely would not have occurred.”
Cultural differences might have also played into the grounding. The report said other crew members on the bridge during the run-up to the grounding saw that the pilot was “frequently on his cellphone and appeared agitated.” At one point, one officer, a Chinese national, thought the ship had missed where they were supposed to turn, but instead of telling the pilot directly the officer repeated the heading multiple times as a way to nudge the pilot.
The investigation found that the Chinese officer was hesitant to question the pilot’s expertise. The report said this might have been due to the Chinese officer fearing he would offend the pilot or “cultural differences regarding seniority.”
The ship became stuck outside the shipping channel and did not block marine navigation, unlike last year’s high-profile grounding in the Suez Canal of its sister vessel, the Ever Given. That incident disrupted ship traffic and the global supply chain for days.
In a statement Tuesday, the Maryland Board of Pilots also said that they were suspending the pilot’s operating license.
Full report:
Maryland suspends license of 'Ever Forward' captain
Updated: 12:58 PM EST Dec 6, 2022
Blair Young
Digital Editor
containers removed from ever forward
SOURCE: WBAL-TV\SkyTeam 11
The Maryland Board of Pilots announced the suspension of the license of the captain of the Ever Forward ship that got stuck in the Chesapeake Bay back in the spring of 2022.Captain Steven Germac was operating the ship when it became stuck in the Bay for over five weeks back in March.
The Maryland Department of Labor Chief Strategy Officer Joseph E. Farren released the following statement regarding their decision:
"After thorough review of evidence and expert analysis in the investigation of the March 13, 2022 grounding of the MV Ever Forward, the Maryland Board of Pilots (Board), in a unanimous decision, voted to summarily suspend the operating license of Captain Steven Germac on October 20, 2022, and formally notified Captain Germac by letter dated October 21, 2022.
"Captain Germac was the pilot of the MV Ever Forward at the time of its grounding. As part of the Board’s statutory process, Captain Germac will be afforded an opportunity for a hearing to formally challenge the Board’s decision in this matter. Captain Germac has not piloted a commercial vessel since March 13, 2022."
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Marcjsmith
Super Anarchist
Wess
Super Anarchist
Ships master not on bridge and 3rd mate hesitated to challenge the idiot pilot playing on cell phone. Pilot no longer has job. Wonder if the ship’s master does.
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kent_island_sailor
Super Anarchist
I am sure he does. Be kind and take a lunch down to him, cleaning the bilge takes all day when there is 1,000 feet of it.
Foreverslow
Super Anarchist
- Thread starter
- #455
I cannot wait to see if the union tries to defend the pilot.
The union in boston defended that nitwit who crashed a train due to texting on a phone they were not supposed have on them while driving.
Bad enough dodging Karens bombing down the road in their oversized suvs as they text from the driver's seat. Now I got to worry about pinheaded pilots on the bay with 1300 foot vessels.
The union in boston defended that nitwit who crashed a train due to texting on a phone they were not supposed have on them while driving.
Bad enough dodging Karens bombing down the road in their oversized suvs as they text from the driver's seat. Now I got to worry about pinheaded pilots on the bay with 1300 foot vessels.
Foreverslow
Super Anarchist
- Thread starter
- #457
likely worse.
Saw a report yesterday that due to US orders on Chinese companies being down 40%, the majority of shipping fleets are mothballing ~ half the container ships from China .
That means a lot more competition for masters to run a vessel in the coming months.
Tin Kicker
New member
The investigation also found that the pilot only used one piece of equipment — his Portable Pilot Unit — to navigate the vessel and did not use any of the ships charts or equipment or navigational buoys that marked the channel’s southern turn. The report said that if the pilot had used “all available means to determine the ship’s location, the grounding likely would not have occurred.”
Thanks for posting this and the results came out before the NTSB would've put them up. Not at all surprised by the findings regarding the pilot being totally inattentive.
Everybody in this area is aware of the numerous buoys leading into the turn and counting down the numbers, the straight line of buoys going off to the right from the turn in front of you are super conspicuous, and the shoreline features are both identifiable and fairly close. For anybody who has been near the Craigshill turn even just few times, missing it is inconceivable.
Us locals know to stay the heck out of the way when the big ships come through there because they do it faster than our little boats can top out in speed, and they take a lot of space doing so. Put a sailboat even near the channel markers of the turn and the ships lay on the horn.
In aviation, we have what's called the 10,000 foot rule for landing, aka "silent cockpit." It used to be that all the way to the ground airline pilots would joke, talk about union stuff, home life, plans, the hot stewardess in back, etc. The NTSB found poor cockpit management in a number of accidents and recommended the FAA pass the rule. Since then once below 10,000 feet, commercial pilots are not allowed to discuss anything other than the landing approach. Cockpit voice recorders are occasionally pulled for audits (FAA required flight operations quality assurance program, or FOQA) and being heard violating the rule can result in a written reprimand.
There are Coast Guard rules about critical phases of operation, but they are paper tigers since there's no follow up similar to FOQA.
(fwiw - My avatar is from being a retired NTSB aviation accident investigator and the name of my boat is Airworthy.)
Thanks for posting this and the results came out before the NTSB would've put them up. Not at all surprised by the findings regarding the pilot being totally inattentive.
Everybody in this area is aware of the numerous buoys leading into the turn and counting down the numbers, the straight line of buoys going off to the right from the turn in front of you are super conspicuous, and the shoreline features are both identifiable and fairly close. For anybody who has been near the Craigshill turn even just few times, missing it is inconceivable.
Us locals know to stay the heck out of the way when the big ships come through there because they do it faster than our little boats can top out in speed, and they take a lot of space doing so. Put a sailboat even near the channel markers of the turn and the ships lay on the horn.
In aviation, we have what's called the 10,000 foot rule for landing, aka "silent cockpit." It used to be that all the way to the ground airline pilots would joke, talk about union stuff, home life, plans, the hot stewardess in back, etc. The NTSB found poor cockpit management in a number of accidents and recommended the FAA pass the rule. Since then once below 10,000 feet, commercial pilots are not allowed to discuss anything other than the landing approach. Cockpit voice recorders are occasionally pulled for audits (FAA required flight operations quality assurance program, or FOQA) and being heard violating the rule can result in a written reprimand.
There are Coast Guard rules about critical phases of operation, but they are paper tigers since there's no follow up similar to FOQA.
(fwiw - My avatar is from being a retired NTSB aviation accident investigator and the name of my boat is Airworthy.)
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nolatom
Super Anarchist
This report came more quickly than is typical, likely due to the high-profile grounding and need to get the word out about piloting while yakking on the phone about extraneous matters.
What's described is grounds for getting a license suspended or even revoked. But here the pilot was operating under the authority of his State pilot commission and not his Federal pilot's license, and those Commissioners can sometimes be overprotective of "their own". I don't know about Maryland, but in Louisiana, it's still very family-based despite some effort at opening up the profession, as traditionally the most important test for membership has been the DNA test.
What's described is grounds for getting a license suspended or even revoked. But here the pilot was operating under the authority of his State pilot commission and not his Federal pilot's license, and those Commissioners can sometimes be overprotective of "their own". I don't know about Maryland, but in Louisiana, it's still very family-based despite some effort at opening up the profession, as traditionally the most important test for membership has been the DNA test.
Foreverslow
Super Anarchist
- Thread starter
- #460
Sal has some fun with the investigation
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
