Casualties

By Fred McCague

JUNE
6/27/09 The barge Hunter Bay, en route to Alaska under tow of the U.S. tug Kirsten H, lost three 40-ft. containers overboard in Milbanke Sound, B.C.

JULY
7/18/09 A crewman was seriously injured, with a crushed pelvis and broken leg, when a loading platform being deployed at a sideport fell back onto him on board the 950-foot Dutch cruise ship Zuiderdam, which had just arrived at the Canada Place cruise terminal in Vancouver.

7/19/09 The 42-foot Canadian tug North Arm Venture, capsized in Skookumchuck Narrows, B.C., while towing a fuel barge. The overturned tug and the barge were taken in tow by the tug Sea Imp IX and all four crewmen were rescued.

7/24/09 In a bizarre incident, the 320-foot Maltese MV Arctic Sea, bound for Algeria with a load of Finnish lumber, was off the coast of Sweden when armed men from an inflatable marked “Police” reportedly boarded and attacked the crew. On July 28, the ship reported by radio to British authorities on entering the English Channel. After a further report to French authorities and being spotted by a Portuguese patrol airplane, the ship vanished, turning off the AIS system and failing to enter the Straits of Gibraltar. The ship was suspected of being seized by pirates.

On August 16, 300 miles off the Cape Verde Islands, the ship was stopped and boarded by the Russian guided missile frigate Ladny. No shots were fired. The 15 crewmembers, mainly Russian, were unharmed.
The Russian news service RIA Novosti reports, “Part of the crew of the Arctic Sea and a group of suspected hijackers arrived in Moscow on (August 20) on board two Il-76 Candid military planes.”

Four crewmembers, including the captain...remain on duty on board [the Arctic Sea]. The ship is being towed to Novorosiisk (in the Russian Black Sea) for further investigation,” defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov said.

On August 21, Moscow’s Basmanny District Court remanded in custody “eight unemployed residents of Estonia” in the case. All eight denied accusations of piracy and hostage-taking.

7/25/09 The 996-foot British container ship Hyundai Tokyo reported 23-year-old Russian crewman Alexey Lyalyeaev to have fallen overboard approximately 180 miles south of Unimak Island in the North Pacific. He had last been seen on board some hours earlier. A Coast Guard aerial search was suspended the next day.

7/27/09 The U.S. Coast Guard assisted Turks and Caicos in rescuing Haitian migrants stranded on a reef approximately 2.3 miles southeast of West Caicos Island, after their unnamed vessel capsized and sank. Up to
200 people may have been onboard the overloaded vessel.

A total of 118 Haitians were rescued and transported to safety by Turks and Caicos Island police authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard. Fifteen bodies were recovered. Up to 67 more were missing when the search was finally suspended.
7/31/08 At about 9:45 p.m., 31-year-old Benjamin Symmes of Montana fell overboard off the 28-foot FV Miss Colleen, approximately one half mile off Anchor Point in Togiak Bay, Alaska. An extensive overnight search involving 10 other fishing vessels and the Coast Guard failed to locate him.

AUGUST
8/3/09 A 45-year-old woman was reported missing off the 780-ft Dutch cruise ship Zaandam between Douglas Island off Juneau and Glacier Bay National Park. Her body was later spotted by a TEMSCO helicopter assisting in the extensive search on the west side of Douglas Island and recovered by a Coast Guard helicopter.

8/5/09 A deckhand on board the Canadian laker Algolake was struck by a crane hook on the left elbow. His condition deteriorated and he was medevaced by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to a Sarnia, Ontario hospital.

8/11/09 The 50-foot FV Lori Ann, with a crew of two and 1,800 gallons of fuel ran aground on Nye Beach near Newport, Ore. (The ship was still sporting her former name Little Linda on the bow.) After removing the fuel, the vessel was pulled off the beach on
August 13 by the tugs Empire and Peggy.

8/12/09 The tugs Caroline and Miss Stacie, both towing barges, collided near Texas State Highway 124 Bridge near High Island, with the Caroline then running aground. The Caroline was refloated and towed to Lake Charles, Louis. for repairs, and the barges were forwarded to Houston by another tug. The Miss Stacie was not damaged.

8/13/09 In Lake Pend Oreille, an unnamed 32-foot tugboat was dropped from a crane when the crane was in danger of tipping. The tug fell on a barge and punched a 5-inch gash in the side of the tug fuel tank, spilling about 80 gallons of diesel fuel into the lake near Hope, Idaho, 19 miles east of Sandpoint.

8/19/09 The 40-foot tug Jerry Picton sank in 40 feet of water off Pier 21 in Galveston, after the boom of a crane on the drill rig Ocean Star failed while transferring a skid pan. The boom fell onto the tug, causing the sinking. T&T Marine Salvage planned to lift the Jerry Picton out of the water and the tug will be taken to a local shipyard for repair. There were no injuries.

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

The risks of delayed action

Supply Chain
Is your service provider compliant?

Does that belong in my port?

Features
Grading the carriers: How are your service providers doing?

Gateway at a glance: China

Ports & infrastructure
Port Productivity Tools: Six success stories

U.S. ports downsize staffs in new economy

Port Products
RTGs and reach stackers

Commentary
What’s on the horizon?

On the Horizon
Fleets of the future: The Chameleon

Casualties