NTSB: Lack of Monitoring Aggravated $900K Louisiana Shipyard Fire May 7, 2021
A 2020 fire at a Louisiana shipyard in April 2020 that caused $900,000 in damage was able to start and spread without notice because no one was continually monitoring the vessel while fire detectors were shut off during repairs, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued May 4.
Marine Accident Brief 21/11 details the NTSB’s investigation into the April 16, 2020, fire aboard the dive support vessel, the Iron Maiden, docked at the Allied Shipyard in Larose, Louisiana.
The probable cause of the fire aboard Iron Maiden was an electrical short from an unidentified source located on the forward bulkhead within the generator room, the NTSB said. No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.
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The National Transportation Safety Board says a lack of continues monitoring was at issue in a shipyard fire at the Allied Shipyard in Larose, Louisiana last April.
The fire aboard the dive support vessel Iron Maiden was able to start and spread without notice because no one was continually monitoring the vessel while fire detectors were shut off during repairs, the NTSB said in a report.
Marine Accident Brief 21/11 details the NTSB’s investigation into the April 16, 2020 fire, which caused $900,000 in damage but no injuries.
While the fire caused extensive damage throughout the generator room, the NTSB found fire pattern and damage indicating the fire started near the forward bulkhead. Because the battery charger, alarm panel, and generator push button start-stop panel were in the area of fire ignition identified by fire investigators, an electrical short from one of these components may have been the source of the fire, the NTSB said. However, the exact loc
The incorrect installation of a single set screw led to the loss of propulsion control on the Canadian-flagged, 736-foot-long Atlantic Huron, causing the ship to strike a pier at 6.8 knots, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
The NTSB issued Marine Accident Brief 21/10 on the July 5, 2020, contact between the self-unloading bulk carrier and a pier associated with the Soo Locks, in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, resulting in $2.2 million in damage. There were no injuries.
According to the NTSB, while on approach to the locks and attempting to slow, there was a propulsion problem involving the vessel’s controllable pitch propeller system that resulted in the ship moving forward with increasing speed instead of slowing or moving astern, as ordered by the captain. In a controllable pitch propeller, the blades are not fixed in position but are fastened to the hub in a way that allows them to rotate and thereby change pitch, the NTSB said. The blade pitch determines
Poor barge loading resulted in the loss of 21 cargo containers into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii last year, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its report on the accident.
The barge Ho’omaka Hou, owned and operated by Young Brothers, LLC, was being towed by the Hoku Loa approximately 6.9 nautical miles north-northwest of Hilo at the time the June 22, 2020 accident. The accident resulted in $1.6 million in damages, but no injuries.
In Marine Accident Brief 21/09, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the collapse of container stacks onboard the barge was the company not providing the barge team with an initial barge load plan, as well as inadequate procedures for monitoring stack weights. “That led to the undetected reverse stratification of container stacks that subjected the stacks’ securing arrangements to increased forces while in transit at sea,” the NTSB said.