Attorney Blog

Texas pilots under investigation after Port Arthur oil spill

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)25828 — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

An oil tanker industry group's goal of no marine spill events for the year has gone by the wayside--in January.

“It’s not a great start to the year," especially after an industry goal of zero events for 2010, said Bill Box, spokesman for Intertanko. He continued, “But if we don’t set zero as a goal, we’ll never get there.”

Box was referring to the 11,000 barrel spill on January 23rd in the Sabine-Netches Waterway at Port Arthur after the Eagle Otome collided with a barge pushed by a Kirby tow.

State pilot regulators have announced that they are to begin an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. While the names of the pilots on duty at the time of the collision have not been released, the pilot commission says that they were fully licensed by the Coast Guard and the state.

Traffic to the waterway was re-opened Wednesday. About 1,700 barrels of oil and 4,700 barrels of oily water have been recovered from the spill which affects a nine-mile long stretch of shoreline.

Source: Fairplay Daily News

Texas pilots under investigation after Port Arthur oil spill

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)25829 — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

An oil industry association's goal of no marine spill events for the year has gone by the wayside--in January.

“It’s not a great start to the year," particularly after industry set a target of zero spill incidents in 2010, said Bill Box, spokesman for Intertanko. He continued, “But if we don’t set zero as a goal, we’ll never get there.”

Box was referring to the 11,000 barrel spill on January 23rd in the Sabine-Netches Waterway at Port Arthur after the Eagle Otome collided with a bargeand tow unit pushed by a Kirby tug.

State pilot regulators have announced that they are to begin an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. While the names of the pilots on duty at the time of the collision have not been released, the pilot commission says that they were fully licensed by the Coast Guard and the state.

Traffic to the waterway was re-opened Wednesday. About 1,700 barrels of oil and 4,700 barrels of oily water have been recovered from the spill which affected a nine-mile long stretch of shoreline.

Source: Fairplay Daily News

450,000 gallons of crude oil spill from collision in Port Arthur

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)12341 — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

11,000 barrels of crude oil, or 450,000 gallons, went into the water in the Port Arthur, Texas following a collision between a tanker and two barges Saturday.

According to a Coast Guard statement, a hole was torn in the side of the tank ship Eagle Otome at approximately 9:30 a.m. No injuries were reported from the incident which has closed the Sabine Netches Waterway along the Port Arthur river front.

The Coast Guard set up a perimeter around the ship and continues to investigate. There is no estimate yet of how much ship traffic is backed up and waiting to enter the port; both inbound and outbound traffic have been halted.

The Houston Chronicle reported that a six-by-five block area near the accident location was closed off because of a hydrogen sulfide leak.

Several major refineries are located in the area including: a Valero Energy Corp. facility producing 310,000 barrels a day and the 275,000 barrel per day Motiva facility.

This is the second major spill to strike the Texas coast in the past three months. In October, an 18,000 gallon spill resulted after a supply boat crashed into a tanker near Galveston.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Alabama offshore worker files Jones Act suit for workplace injuries

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)25193 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

A maritime engineer who claims to have suffered severe injuries while cleaning out the bilge has filed a claim against his employer.

According to the suit, Leslie Vincent Tapia of Alabama seeks $75,000 for undisclosed serious and disabling injuries he suffered aboard the M/V Warren Thomas while washing out the starboard engine.

Tapia charges Supreme Offshore Services Inc. for failure to provide proper and safe working equipment, claims that the vessel was unseaworthy and that his employer is refusing to pay for medical care. Tapia states in the suit filed in Galveston, Texas that he suffered pain, disfigurement and lost wages.

The suit says “such a failure to provide proper working equipment proximately caused and resulted in the injuries and damages sustained by the plaintiff” and that “the plaintiff would show that nothing he did or failed to do caused, or in any way contributed to his injuries.”

Source: Southeast Texas Record

Still nearly impossible to offload Haiti relief cargo by ship

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)12237 — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:00:00 EST

With Haiti’s main port destroyed by the earthquake, aid vessels have the virtually impossible task of delivering their cargo into the devastated nation.

The main dock at Port-au-Prince is partially underwater and ships have nowhere to dock. And before large ships could maneuver into the harbor, a survey must be conducted to see if the quake altered water depths that could cause vessels to ground.

Companies are considering options such as offloading cargo from ships onto barges. But there still would remain the challenge of how to discharge from the barges into the port as the shore side cranes are badly damaged and listing over.

Officials are studying whether another port area could accommodate moving cargo by barge. Though they don’t normally carry cranes, it might be possible to wheel on mobile cranes.

Maersk Line is trying to figure out how to utilize a vessel it operates that transports cargo from large ships; that vessel is presently anchored off Port-au-Prince. Crowley, which normally sends two ships a week, has had to move those vessels elsewhere.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Pirates make big return to Gulf of Aden

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)24185 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Somali pirates took down two ships Tuesday. One of the attacks was the Gulf of Aden’s first hijacking in almost six months.

St. James Park, a British flagged chemical tanker, was attacked in the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor (IRTC), a causeway that is patrolled by an international naval force. It’s one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes with nearly 20,000 vessels passing through each year.

According to EU Naval Force spokesman Cdr. John Harbour, 26 crew members are aboard the vessel; the crew members hail from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The ship sent a distress message only after it was hijacked, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center. That signal went to a rescue coordination center in Piraeus, Greece, where it was broadcast to the shipping industry.

The ship, which was running from Spain to Thailand, was last reported to be heading to the northern coast of Somalia.

Just three hours after the St. James Park was hijacked, a Panamanian flagged ship with 19 crewmembers was hijacked off southern Somalia.

The IMB reports that there have been 214 pirate attacks near Somalia this year with 47 vessels hijacked.

Source: Associated Press

Canadian ferry accident leaves waiting passengers angry

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11925 — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

A backlog on three Canadian ferries resulted in outraged passengers waiting in their vehicles over a day for service. A gust of wind smashed the MV Atlantic Vision into the dock while maneuvering at Port aux Basques on the morning of the December 23rd.

Though crew members worked feverishly to repair a basketball sized hole in the stern five meters above the water, the incapacitated vessel took up the berth space of two other ferries. This resulted in disruption of service to three ferries and a jam up of between 150 and 200 vehicles in the terminal parking lot, along with numerous transport trucks.

The Marine Atlantic vessels shuttle passengers between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Nova Scotia.

Many of the passengers were forced to wait overnight while repairs were being made. Many cited a lack of information provided by the operator concerning when the vessels would be back in service. One passenger said that a number they had been given to call for updated information only gave them old news. Repairs were completed and the company put an extra ferry into service in order to accommodate the passenger backlog.

Source: CBC News

Warships did not slow down Somali pirate attacks in '09

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11892 — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Even with the presence of the newly deployed European Naval Force (“EUNAVFOR”) off the Horn of Africa this year, pirate attacks almost doubled. In 2008 there were 111 attacks and in 2009 there have been 209 through the last week of December.

The fleet of warships from the European Union, NATO, and several countries has cut the percentage of successful attacks from 37 percent to 20 percent. However, pirates have responded in more daring fashion, using captured vessels as “mother ships” to venture out up to 1,000 miles offshore, more than double their previous range.

One of the obstacles at sea is the naval force policy of “disrupt and deter,” with military interdiction generally going no further than confiscation of equipment while releasing the assailants with enough fuel to return to Somalia. Only when pirates are actually caught red handed in an attack are they detained.

"It's not going to be solved by racing around the Indian Ocean with warships, capturing pirates," said Rear Adm. Peter Hudson, the commander of the EU Naval Force's counter-piracy efforts.

Source: Associated Press

Coast Guard investigating tug sinking and pollution near Pittsburgh

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)23953 — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

High winds and waves swamped a towboat on the Ohio River in West Virginia earlier this month.

The Coast Guard received a distress call from the Sam S. just after it went down mid-afternoon at mile marker 39.5 near the town of Chester.

The vessel’s pilot went in the water briefly before being picked up by a nearby towing vessel and no deaths or injuries were reported.

A sheen was reported coming off the sunken vessel which reportedly carried 500 gallons of fuel. The owner, Georgetown Sand and Gravel, was said to be making efforts to contain pollution. The towboat was not a threat to navigation because it sank outside the navigation channel.

Source: U.S. Coast Guard

German ship operator pays for hit and run spill in Columbia River

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)23948 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Singapore company also fined for pollution by Washington State

The Washington State Department of Ecology has hit two ship operators with fines for hydraulic oil spills in state waters.

DS Schiffahrt GmbH & Co. KG of Hamburg, Germany, was fined $17,250 because the Hyundai Republic, a 997-foot container ship, spilled 159 gallons into Tacoma’s Blair Waterway in March.

The incident occurred after the vessel’s bow thruster was damaged with a three foot fracture as the ship was getting underway out of the Port of Tacoma. Crew members said they heard the sound of loud metal breaking as the thruster engaged. Low hydraulic fluid warning lights went off on the bridge and engine room. After shutting down the system for 15 minutes, the ship fled the dock under tug assistance. The master ignored state law by failing to immediately report the incident, refusing to contain the leak or clean up the oil.

“This incident is alarming because the ship's master didn't report the spill until 3 p.m. — after the Hyundai Republic was nearly to Seattle," said David Byers, of the Department of Ecology.

Ecology fined Masterbulk Pte Ltd. of Singapore for a separate incident three days later. It’s 700-foot cargo vessel, Heranger, developed a slow hydraulic leak in the Columbia River that lasted for 58 hours. Masterbulk received a $16,000 fine.

Source: Professional Mariner

Marine companies sued after cable snaps, mangling worker's knee

rawlins2007@yahoo.com (blog Author)23949 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

A Texas man whose left knee was badly injured while positioning a jackup rig has filed a lawsuit for damages.

Named in the suit are Belle Pass Towing Corp., South Bayou Marine, Hercules Offshore and Hercules Assets.

Ashley McNeal suffered torn ligaments and multiple surgeries after a cable whipped into his leg on December 10, 2007 at Sabine Yard in Jefferson County, Texas. McNeal was involved in positioning the rig for inspection at the dock. According to the suit, while McNeal attempted to unhook a cable, he tried to direct the drivers of the two tug boats used in the operation to slack off on a cable. But they allegedly accelerated instead, pulling the cable taut and causing it to whip his knee.

The complaint states that McNeal suffered medical expenses and lost wages along with mental anguish and disfigurement. His wife, Neely, a party to the suit, also suffered lost wages because she had to leave her job to care for her husband full time.

The suit was filed earlier this month in Jefferson County, Texas.

Source: Southeast Texas Record

$1.25 million awarded to family of Navy teen against tug operator

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11875 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

A federal court has ruled that a tug operator - and the U.S. Navy - is at fault for the death of a Navy man in a James River, Virginia accident.

19-year-old Freddie Porter, Jr. of New Jersey was killed while conducting training exercises aboard a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (“RHIB”) near Jamestown Island on the evening of October 11, 2007. A tug pushing eight barges ran over the RHIB, knocking the enlisted seaman into the water below the 600 foot long flotilla. While the other crew members managed to swim safely away, Porter was killed by the tug’s propellers.

After a four day trial that concluded late last week, Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled the Navy to be at fault for providing an inexperienced and “incompetent(ly) crew” on the RHIB. Also cited was Vulcan Materials Company, the tug’s owner-operator, for failing to post a proper lookout on the forward barge.

The Navy was ruled to be 80-percent responsible and Vulcan 20-percent responsible. While sovereign immunity protects the military from paying the victim’s family, Vulcan was ordered to compensate them $1,250,000.

According to a lawyer for the family, the ruling establishes a responsibility for tug operators to post lookouts to avoid collisions.

“I am hopeful that changes will be made soon in the tugboat industry that will better protect small boats on rivers so that no other parent has to needlessly suffer what we are going through," said Cassita Massiah, the victim’s mother.

Source: PR Newswire

LNG ship runs aground off Puerto Rico

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11842 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

The grounding of a Norwegian flagged Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ship off Puerto Rico this month is under Coast Guard investigation.

The 920 foot double-hulled vessel – named the Mathew – ran aground earlier this month just southeast of Cayo Caribe near Guayanilla. The vessel was floated free after transferring cargo from the forward to the aft tanks.

At last report, the vessel was moored at the Eco Electrica facility and divers were to conduct underwater hull integrity assessments.

Coast Guard inspectors from Ponce and San Juan were providing support at the scene.

There have been no reports of pollution.

LNG ship runs aground off Puerto Rico

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11843 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Seafarers union condemns vessel transits through pirate infested waters

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11612 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

The International Transport Workers Federation (“ITF”), the world’s largest organization representing maritime workers, has issued a scathing statement against shipowners sailing their vessels through areas at risk of Somali piracy.

According to the statement, “save in exceptional circumstances, ships should not transit the (affected) area. The risk of attack is now so great that putting seafarers in harm’s way amounts to a breach of the shipowner’s duty of care.”

The ITF Seafarers Section does make exceptions for allowing vessels to pass off the coast of Somalia under “exceptional circumstances.” Those exceptional circumstances include 1) vessels transiting within or in close proximity to a naval escort, or 2) vessels classified as low risk with adequate defense measures in place. Low risk vessels are those with high freeboards and traveling at fast speeds.

“There are (owners) who are shirking responsibility,” said ITF Maritime Coordinator Steve Cotton. “I am not aware of a single flag of convenience country that is acting in this way to protect the ships that are supposedly their responsibility.”

The statement says that sending a vessel into deadly waters without adequate measures is an act of willful neglect.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, there have been 42 pirates hijackings and boardings by Somali pirates in 2009.

Mississippi shipyard explosion kills two, injures four

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11613 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Two subcontractors died from an explosion at a ship building facility in Escatawpa, Mississippi last month.

52-year old Dwight Monroe of Moss Point, Mississippi and 25 year old Alex Caballera of Pascagoula, Mississippi were pronounced dead from the blast. The explosion occurred within a 120-foot articulate tug barge at 3:50 p.m. on November 20th at the VT Haller marine facility while the crew was preparing a tank for painting.

Four other crew members were injured in the blast. Two were taken to a Mobile, Alabama burn center and two were treated and released with less serious injuries.

The cause of the explosion is unknown and remains under investigation.

Source: The Mississippi Press

Crew member breaks leg in vessel accident

blog@www.jonesactbook.com (news Author)11614 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

A crew member aboard a bulk freighter suffered a broken leg when a mooring line snapped at a dock in Charleston, South Carolina.

In details released by the Coast Guard, the Angelina then broke away from the pier just after noon on November, 17th.

The vessel, loaded with pig iron, stopped after dropping anchor.

Paramedics arrived by boat and transported the crew member to an area hospital.

Source: The Post and Courier