Part#: 300003509 ContProfessionale Marinernts February 2020 Towing 15 Ice-fighting crew on Great Lakes ATB keeps cargo flowing BY WILL VAN DORP 15 4 Industry Signals Correspondence 4 Conception fire spurs nationwide 38 Emergency management: Have Coast Guard inspection effort you planned for your next crisis? 6 Hurricane’s impact on Eastern BY SEAN MURPHY AND ADAM BOESEN puts OPC contract back in play 8 NOAA plans to ‘sunset’ 38 traditional paper charts by 2025 10 Seafarers fearful of bearing brunt of sulfur cap enforcement 12 New SOLAS amendments take effect to improve lifeboat safety 14 Coast Guard proposes first decrease 12 in Lakes pilot rates in six years Trends & Currents 42 Rise of BNWAS adds to concerns over alarm fatigue BY ALAN R. EARLS A Mariner’s Notebook 48 To save the Jones Act, know your enemies — and fight back 42 BY CAPT. 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Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the safe handling of all contributed materials. 2 Professional Mariner February 2020 20 CoProfessionalnt Marinere ntsFebruary 2020 26 20 Doing quiet time: Hybrids keep tourists flowing to ‘The Rock’ BY CASEY CONLEY Maritime Casualties 26 American captain, crew honored for valor in Sincerity Ace rescue 28 Casualty Briefs 31 Bulker deck hand dies after fall from Indiana steel mill dock 32 Towboat fire leads to barge breakaway, captain’s dismissal 35 NTSB: Master impaired when cruise ship hit mooring dolphins 37 ATB hits OSV that had turned broadside in Port Arthur channel 20 Vessels at Work 2424 24 Alabama River ferry reborn with electric propulsion BY Brian gauvin ON THE COVER Islander, a conventional diesel-powered tour boat sailing for Alcatraz Cruises, heads across San Fran- cisco Bay after taking tourists to the former federal prison in the background. The company’s fleet includes a pair of refitted diesel-electric hybrids, Alcatraz Flyer and Alcatraz Clipper, that exemplify the push toward cleaner propulsion in the Bay Area. See story, page 20. Photo by Casey Conley www.professionalmariner.com 3 i n d u s t r y Signals Conception fire spurs nationwide Coast Guard inspection effort ollowing the fatal fire on the cies, and hazards caused by too lowing the (fire), the Coast Guard Fdive boat Conception, the U.S. many personal electronic devices launched a targeted inspection Coast Guard launched a nation- recharging at once. campaign on all small passenger wide inspection campaign last fall Lt. Amy Midgett, a Coast vessels in the fleet to identify any focused on safety and regulatory Guard spokeswoman, said the immediate concerns and trends compliance aboard overnight pas- “fleetwide safety campaign” in the industry,” Midgett said in senger vessels. occurred across all captain of the mid-November. The service also distributed a port zones. She acknowledged the Although she described overall marine safety information bulletin effort was spurred by the Sept. education as a primary objec- (MSIB) highlighting key safety 2 fire aboard Conception that tive, inspectors had the authority themes such as clear escape routes, claimed 34 lives. to identify deficiencies and take crew readiness during emergen- “In the days immediately fol- “other necessary enforcement NTSB investigator Jennifer Homendy and Coast Guard Capt. Jason Neu- bauer tour the berthing area of Vision, a sister vessel to Concep- tion, on Sept. 4 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Thirty-four people died on Conception two days ear- lier when a fire NTSB photo trapped them as they slept below the main deck. 4 Professional Mariner February 2020 action” based on issues they a critical look at all the regulations 39-passenger tall ship Harvey noticed while on board. Results and policies in place, and a very Gamage in Portland, Maine, in from the nationwide inspection high probability that some items September as part of the nation- effort were still being tabulated, will be proposed to change.” wide compliance campaign. Capt. Midgett said. Comments made by NTSB Richard Bailey, skipper of the ship Multiple federal agencies are investigators shortly after the inci- certified under Subchapter T, said investigating the Conception fire, dent also offered clues of potential the inspectors called ahead of time which started at about 0300 while changes. The agency noted that to schedule the visit. He described the vessel was anchored off Cali- Conception lacked a hard-wired the inspectors as “collaborative … fornia’s Santa Cruz Island. Crew fire alarm system and fixed fire- and non-confrontational.” told authorities they awoke to suppression system in the pas- “They looked at egresses from flames engulfing the ship’s gal- senger spaces. Neither system was spaces, they looked at flammable ley on the main level. One deck required. possibilities — things like paint below, 33 passengers and one Conception was built before reg- storage (and) phone charging,” he crewmember slept. All 34 perished ulatory changes in 1996 for small said. in the fire, while the five crew passenger vessels, and therefore it Based on conversations with sleeping above the galley survived. was not required to meet the more the inspectors, Bailey suggested The National Transportation stringent Subchapter T standards. the service “would like to reduce Safety Board (NTSB), Coast “Conception was inspected and the number of overnight bunks Guard and U.S. Justice Depart- certificated by the Coast Guard aboard boats,” particularly double ment are conducting separate as an existing small passenger ves- bunks catering to couples traveling investigations into the incident, sel prior to the incident, and the together. Such accommodations, Midgett said. The cause of the fire process is informally referred to as which Conception had, can trap likely won’t be made public for ‘grandfathering’ in the maritime one person between a sleeping a year or more, she said, adding industry,” Midgett said. partner and the bulkhead. that it was “too soon to speculate” During a tour of Conception’s “On (Harvey Gamage), only whether any regulations might sister vessel Vision after the fire, the captain’s bunk is rated as a change as a result of the fire. NTSB board member Jennifer double,” Bailey said, “and there is Kyle McAvoy, a former Coast Homendy expressed concern nobody sleeping in there with me.” Guard casualty investigator, pre- about the compartment where the Truth Aquatics of Santa Bar- dicted the service will recommend victims slept in bunk beds stacked bara, Calif., owned Conception, changes. McAvoy, who retired as two and three high. The space had which was raised from the seafloor captain and now works for Rob- two exits, both of which led to the shortly after the fire. The com- son Forensic of Lancaster, Pa., galley that was engulfed in flames. pany, now facing multiple lawsuits, expects the service will look at One of the exits required passen- has suspended operations “for a standards for safe passenger egress gers to crawl over a bunk bed. to-be-determined amount of time.” and hull materials that allowed the The Coast Guard has not speci- “Right now we feel it’s impor- fire to spread quickly. fied any regulatory shortcomings tant (to) dedicate our entire efforts “One of the primary reasons aboard the 75-foot Conception. to make our boats models of new to do an investigation is to figure However, the inspection cam- regulations that we will continue out how to stop something from paign that followed the tragedy to work on with the NTSB and happening again,” said McAvoy, re-emphasized its enforcement of Coast Guard,” the company wrote who is not connected to any of existing regulations. on its Facebook page.