Lancer Insurance Company
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- Mississippi Mishap: Bridge Allision Triggers 2-Year License Defense Marine News, Apr 2017 #24
Professional captains and pilots in all sectors of the maritime industry confront daunting challenges and hazards every day on every trip. From piloting oceangoing ships into congested harbors and safely docking them, to navigating ferries, tourist vessels and water taxis through harbors and rivers teaming with other commercial vessels and recreational craft and everything in between, U.S Coast Guard licensed deck officers have one of the most difficult, pressure-packed jobs in any industry.
Arguably, the pilots and captains who face the most challenging conditions in their daily duties are the hardworking officers aboard vessels navigating the nation’s rivers and their tributaries in the towboat industry. Bridges, dams and locks constantly changing water levels and shoaling and limited space in which to handle all of these shifting challenges while pushing a flotilla of barges are the rule, not the exception. Long periods away from home, constant time pressures and deadlines, all are under the watchful eyes of river-based Coast Guard commands make work in America’s inland rivers one of the most difficult career choices in the maritime … or any … industry.Perhaps not surprisingly, when things go sideways, it seldom involves a minor incident. The following case study demonstrates how a seemingly routine passing arrangement between two towboat pilots became a nerve-wracking license-threatening mid-river collision – in an instant.A Perilous PassingThe license-insured river pilot was traveling northbound on the Mississippi River at around 4 knots pushing 15 barges, seven of which were empty. When approaching one of the many railroad bridges spanning the river, he received radio contact from the pilot of a southbound tow who wanted to make arrangements for a passing to take place near the bridge. The northbound vessel approached the bridge on the portside descending bank with the intent of proceeding through the left descending span. Unfortunately, the river had other plans.As he closed in on the bridge and the oncoming southbound tow, the swollen river’s current slowed his vessel’s speed to barely 1.5 knots and slowly began to affect control of the tow. Despite taking immediate and appropriate corrective action, the current’s strength prevailed, forcing his towboat and barges into the bridge piers causing the tow to break-up and scatter haphazardly across the river. The pilot’s corrective action, while unable to allow him to avoid alliding with the bridge piers, did prevent a collision with the southbound tow … an event which would have presented a higher probability of injury to the crews of both vessels, oil product discharge into the river and, most likely, a lengthy shutdown of the busy waterway.The Coast Guard, both companies and bridge authority were all contacted and as the barges were slowly recovered and secured, the pilot of the northbound vessel was sent for drug testing before meeting with investigators from the regional Coast Guard command. Prudently, in the interim, he reported the incident promptly to his license insurance company and was assigned his own maritime attorney who, via cellular telephone prepped him for his initial Coast Guard verbal interview, assisted him in drafting his maritime casualty report (2692) and accompanied him to his formal Coast Guard interview.Several nerve-wracking interviews and attorney conferences later, the Coast Guard investigators finally decided against pursuing negligence charges against the pilot, concluding that, given the circumstances, he had acted responsibly and did the best he could to prevent a bad situation from becoming even worse; in other words, a collision with the Southbound vessel and its barges. The only hitch: it took two years from the date of the incident for the captain to receive notification that no further action would be pursued against his license. This was perhaps the most agonizingly long 24 months in that professional mariner’s long and admirable career.The legal fees incurred in the defense of this towboat pilot’s license totaled $4,500 as maritime attorney worked long and hard to get authorities to finally render a decision to bring him peace of mind that his Coast Guard license was not at risk. He was also very relieved that all his legal expenses were fully paid by his license insurance company.While the pilot passed the incident site dozens of times since losing out to the power of the mighty Mississippi’s unpredictable currents without incident, there is also little doubt that the memory of that bridge allision and the two years of legal proceedings and long-awaited exoneration will never be forgotten. Nor will the knowledge that protecting one’s ticket before taking last line will always be a smart move, as well.
The Author
Randy O’Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company.(As published in the April 2017 edition of Marine News) -
- What Happens when Commercial and Recreational Vessels Face Off? Marine News, Jan 2018 #24
standard … even if his or her actions ultimately prevented a more serious casualty. The Author Randy O’Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company and has been Manager of its MOPS Marine License Insurance division since 1984. Over the past 29 years, O’Neill has spoken and written on many
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- River Dance: Grounding Launches Runaway Barges, Coast Guard Investigation Marine News, Apr 2015 #18
to avoid such a problem in the future and the ongoing need for license protection – endure forever. Randy O’Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company and has been Manager of its MOPS Marine License Insurance division since 1984. Over the past 29 years, Mr. O’Neill has spoken and written
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- Workboat vs. Jet Ski: A Mysterious Collision and Its Consequences Marine News, Nov 2016 #26
specialty that exists to this day. PWC accidents, unfortunately, are not uncommon. The Author Randy O’Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company and has been Manager of its MOPS Marine License Insurance division since 1984. Over the past 29 years, O’Neill has spoken and written on many
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- SAFETY: Distractions Can Sink Careers Marine News, May 2019 #30
remains the same: That phone call, text, or email can wait until the end of the trip or duty period.Randy O’Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company and has been Manager of its MOPS Marine License Insurance division since 1984. O’Neill has spoken and written on many occasions on the importance
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 48Index page MTR MarApr2024:MTR Layouts 4/4/2024 3:19 PM Page 1 Advertiser Index PageCompany Website Phone# 17 . . . . .Airmar Technology Corporation . . . . . . . . . .www.airmar.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(603) 673-9570 9 . . . . . .Birns, Inc. . . . . . . . . . .
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 42NEW TECH OCEANOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2024 Image courtesy Greg Trauthwein Image courtesy BIRNS MacArtney launches the new ultra-compact ø12.7 mm SubConn Nano connector. Innovative connectivity built on 45 years of ? eld-proven and market-trusted design. Image courtesy MacArtney Birns celebrated its 70th
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 36LANDER LAB #10 Of special interest for marine applications, LiPo batteries are Shipping any kind of lithium battery can be a challenge, and offered in a “pouch” design, with a soft, ? at body. The pouch IATA regs vary with the batteries inside or outside an instru- is vacuum-sealed, with all voids ?
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 32FEATURE SEABED MINING by a sea? oor plume from its pilot collection system test. pact, nodule collection system that utilizes mechanical and The Metals Company recently signed a binding MoU with hydraulic technology. Paci? c Metals Corporation of Japan for a feasibility study on The company’s SMD
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 30FEATURE SEABED MINING bilical. It has passive heave compensation which nulli? es the necott. “The focus since then has been on scaling while en- wave, current and vessel motions that in? uence loads in the suring the lightest environmental impact,” says The Metals power umbilical. The LARS can
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 29n January, Norway said “yes” to sea- bed mining, adding its weight to the momentum that is likely to override the calls for a moratorium by over 20 countries and companies such as I Google, BMW, Volvo and Samsung. Those against mining aim to protect the unique and largely unknown ecology of the sea?
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 25Auerbach explained that ideally, “one ? ed layers of geothermal activity,” noted changes over an area of 8,000 km2. They would have both instruments: seismom- Skett, “and the change in salinity and dis- found up to seven km3 of displaced ma- eters to detect and locate subsurface ac- solved particles for
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March 2024 - Marine Technology Reporter page: 202024 Editorial Calendar January/Februay 2024 February 2024 March/April 2024 Ad close Jan.31 Ad close March 21 Ad close Feb. 4 Underwater Vehicle Annual Offshore Energy Digital Edition ?2?VKRUH:LQG$)ORDWLQJ)XWXUH ?2FHDQRJUDSKLF?QVWUXPHQWDWLRQ 6HQVRUV ?6XEVHD'HIHQVH ?6XEVHD'HIHQVH7KH+XQWIRU ?0DQLS
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 48Index page MR Apr2024:MN INDEX PAGE 4/5/2024 1:33 PM Page 1 ANCHORS & CHAINS MILITARY SONAR SYSTEMS tel:+44 (0) 1752 723330, [email protected] , www.siliconsensing.com Anchor Marine & Supply, INC., 6545 Lindbergh Houston, Massa Products Corporation, 280 Lincoln Street, SONAR TRANSDUCERS
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 41Nautel provides innovative, industry-leading solutions speci? cally designed for use in harsh maritime environments: • GMDSS/NAVTEX/NAVDAT coastal surveillance and transmission systems • Offshore NDB non-directional radio beacon systems for oil platform, support vessel & wind farm applications
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 40TECH FEATURE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SYSTEM BATTLES COGNITIVE FATIGUE IN WATCHKEEPERS All images courtesy Groke Technologies Today’s evolving maritime security risks pose all-too-familiar threats to international shipping, and as just one of the many causes of fatigue, they add
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 39Tech Files Latest Products, Systems and Ship Designs “Wall Climbing Robot” Danish Pilot calls gets ClassNK Nod LEGO Model "A tribute build to a work life at sea" Image courtesy MOL, Sumitomo Heavy Industries lassNK granted its Innovation Endorse- Image courtesy Espen Andersen/DanPilot ment for
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 37SIMULATION "A simulated vessel ? ooding can help teams work together to solve the challenge using different systems on the bridge." – Jussi Siltanen, Lead, "The gami? cation of Product Marketing, learning makes it fun." Safety Solutions at NAPA – Captain Pradeep Chawla, Founder, MarinePALS Image
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 31CRANES & OFFSHORE WIND Cadeler’s new NG-20000X class vessels will have 2,600t cranes, and its new NG-20000F class vessel will have a 3,200t crane. Similar new vessels for Havfram will have a crane of approximately 3,200t, as will Van Oord’s KNUD E. HAN- SEN-designed newbuilding currently being built in
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 27RADM PHILIP SOBECK, MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND With COVID, we had to make some hard choices for our Do your CIVMARs have upward mobility? mariners because we couldn’t rotate. Many of our mariners The Navy has Sailors who become “Mustangs,” and work found other employment, and were able to use their skills
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 25RADM PHILIP SOBECK, MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND Photo by Brian Suriani USN Military Sealift Command From a global supply chain perspective, What makes MSC so vital to the we’ve learned a lot about dealing with Navy’s ? eet and our military disruptions. COVID delivered a big forces around the world? wake-up
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 23offshore wind; and the foreign ? ag Maersk supply WTIV at Seatrium Singapore, together with U.S. ? ag feeder ATBs for transportation and installation of the Empire Wind. Three newbuild SOVs and three conversions/retro? ts were award- ed, too, and 22 CTVs were also announced. The ? rst US rock installa
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 21ROB LANGFORD, VP, GLOBAL OFFSHORE WIND ob Langford has worked in the offshore industry ABS. “We are growing and evolving our services across all for more than three decades, ‘cutting his teeth’ offshore infrastructure along with our continued support to the in a UK design ? rm working in the North Sea
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 15hydro-acoustic design of a propulsor that delays cavitation meets its underwater noise limits. This will require specialized inception and cavitating area. The third approach should be test sites or specialized mobile underwater testing equipment. isolation mounting of a vibro-active equipment and
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 10Maritime Safety © Roman/AdobeStock SIRE 2.0: Navigating the New Horizon of Maritime Safety By Captain Aaron Cooper, Programs Director, OCIMF he maritime industry is on the cusp of a signi? cant preparing vessel operators and vessel assurance teams for the transformation with the launch of the Ship
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 9A third opportunity to develop a safety and will help to further a strong ing safety considerations an ever-pres- strong BBS culture is through obser- safety culture. The above are only a few ent factor in everything we do - from vational assessments. Here, when con- of the many practices that can
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 8Training Tips for Ships © By tuastockphoto/AdobeStock Tip #58 Enhancing Behavior-Based Safety By Murray Goldberg, CEO, Marine Learning Systems ave you ever heard the term “Behaviour-Based environment where each individual feels personally respon- Safety”? Although the term itself is relatively sible for
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April 2024 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News page: 5Control Your Connectivity Your ?eet’s IT manager, captain, and crew are looking for seamless integration and control for every communication channel found onboard: ® KVH ONE , VSAT, OneWeb, Starlink, 5G and more ™ CommBox Edge from KVH delivers: Prioritization | Channel Balancing | Advance Bonding
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April 2024 - Marine News page: 48ADVERTISER INDEX Page Company Website Phone# 23 Ahead Sanitation www.aheadsanitationsystems.com (337) 330-4407 29 All American Marine www.AllAmericanMarine.com (360) 647-7602 35 Bristol Harbor Group www.BristolHarborGroup.com (401) 253-4318 7 Caldwell Lifting Solutions www.caldwellinc.com (800)