NTSB says this is what caused the 2019 propane tanker crash at Cherry Point pier
A complacent atmosphere on the bridge of a massive propane tanker distracted the ship’s pilot, causing him to steer too fast and at the wrong angle toward the Petrogas pier at Cherry Point, according to an official report on the 2019 incident.
In its report released Thursday afternoon, Feb. 4, the National Transportation Safety Board said “poor bridge resource management,” including a “non-pertinent” conversation with the pilot and the ship’s master, took the bridge crew’s attention away from the docking maneuver on a ship partially loaded with highly flammable cargo.
“By the pilot’s own admission, he was not paying attention to the vessel’s position in relation to the dangers a short distance ahead and had no expectation of the master or the bridge team to provide him any information,” the NTSB report said.
The name of the pilot was not given in the NTSB report, and there was no mention of disciplinary action.
Further, there was no drug or alcohol use involved, nor was any equipment failure or language barriers noted.
No one was injured when the 741-foot liquid petroleum gas tanker Levant hit the T-shaped end of the Petrogas pier at Cherry Point at 4:06 a.m. Dec. 15, 2019, the NTSB report said.
Dockside operators and line handlers fled toward shore when they saw the imminent crash, the report said.
No warning was sounded from the Levant, but some members of the bridge crew braced themselves for impact.
“Witnesses on the wharf described seeing that the first point of contact was the portside bow section of the Levant hitting the southeast side of the south mooring dolphin, which was knocked down along with the catwalk connecting it to the wharf,” the report said.
A total of $1.5 million in damage was reported to the Levant and $6.75 million in damage to the pier, including a catwalk and a mooring platform called a “dolphin” at one end of the T-section that were destroyed.
None of the ship’s cargo of propane and butane leaked because damage to the Levant was limited to the bow’s ballast section, which was punctured and flooded, the report said.
The Levant is an LPG tanker owned and managed by Avance Gas LTD and Exmar Ship Management NV and has a gross tonnage of 46,789, the report said.
It was built in 2015 by Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding of China and sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands, according to marinetraffic.com.
The Levant docked at the pier west of Ferndale on Dec. 10, 2019, where it unloaded a shipment from South Korea and began loading liquefied propane and butane from a 5,000-foot pipeline running the length of the pier.
After three days of loading, the Levant’s crew stopped the process on Dec. 14 and moved 0.7 miles offshore to anchor because the ship’s master feared there would not be enough clearance during a low tide to continue loading.
“With the ebbing tide, (the master) was concerned about maintaining a safe under-keel clearance and decided it was necessary to take the ship off the wharf to deeper water to anchor, and then return to the wharf when the tide was high enough to complete loading operations. For the shift to the anchorage, a Puget Sound state-licensed pilot was required per Washington state regulations,” the NTSB report said.
That pilot arrived aboard at 7:24 p.m., was briefed on the ship’s status, and went to bed at 10:25 p.m., the report said.
He arose at 3:22 a.m., entered the bridge at 3:38 a.m. and ordered the ship to move “dead slow ahead and starboard 30-degree rudder” at 3:54 a.m.
Assisting the maneuver were the tugboats Lindsay Foss and Garth Foss.
But then the pilot and ship’s master stopped to chat, the report said.
“At 0401 (4:01 a.m. PST), on an ordered course of 065 degrees and speed of 4.3 knots over the ground, the pilot ordered dead slow ahead. For about the next 2 minutes a conversation about non-navigational, non-operational matters took place between the master and pilot. At 0403, with a heading of 066 degrees and a speed of 4.5 knots, the pilot ordered the rudder hard to port. The pilot recalled that, about this point, “something didn’t feel right,” so he briskly walked from inside the bridge out to the starboard bridge wing. At that time, the Levant’s bow was less than two ship lengths from the south mooring dolphin of the Petrogas Wharf, and the ship’s electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) recorded the wind from the west at 15 knots. A few seconds after the hard-to-port helm order, the operator of the Garth Foss called the pilot on the Levant asking him for orders, to which the pilot replied to stand by,” the report said.
“At 0406, the Levant struck the south mooring dolphin, and, a few seconds later, the pilot ordered full astern and both tugs to pull full away. Upon seeing the ship hit the south mooring dolphin, the operators and line handlers ran down the causeway to the shore,” the report said.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 8:27 AM.
