The NTSB released its report on the 2019 accident in which a tank barge got caught on the gate sill at Whitten Lock, resulting in an oil spill in the lock.
March 8, 2021 By Frank McCormack
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently released its Marine Accident Brief detailing a March 15, 2020, incident that involved the mv. Cooperative Spirit, part of ADM ARTCO’s river transportation fleet, striking the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge near Luling, La., on the Lower Mississippi River. The Cooperative Spirit was traveling downstream at 1:13 a.m. when the port side of its tow struck a pier of the Hale Boggs Bridge. The Cooperative Spirit was pushing a 29-barge tow at the time.
Following the allision, the tow broke apart, with one of the barges sinking. The Cooperative Spirit and other vessels in the area caught the remaining 28 barges, but not before multiple barges from the tow struck other barges moored at the riverbank. Two barges were later determined to be a total loss. NTSB estimated the cost of damages and cargo to be $1.65 million.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released its investigation report into the 2019 loss of the F/V Miss Annie after the fishing vessel struck a submerged wreck that had shifted from its previously known position.
Three crew members were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after the incident on December 19, 2019, in Calibogue Sound, between Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Tybee Island, Georgia. The vessel later broke apart. No pollution or injuries were reported, but the vessel was a total loss valued at $60,000.
Although unproven, the Miss Annie is thought to have struck the submerged wreck of the Miss Debbie, a 40-foot shrimp boat that sank during a storm in May 2017. On November 1, 2019, the owner of a yacht known as the Chanticleer also reported striking a “significant object” within a few hundred yards from where the Miss Debbie was known to have sunk. In the weeks following the Chanticleer incident, NOAA conducted a survey of the area, revealing a wreck subme