# Lower Mississippi River - three-ship collision!



## callpor (Jan 31, 2007)

Thanks to Dennis Bryant in his maritime blog today, for the following "interesting" incident news:-

"The US Coast Guard issued a news release [located at http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2487870/] stating that it is responding to a three-ship collision and oil spill on the Lower Mississippi River near Convent, Louisiana. The bulk carrier Privocean broke free from its mooring. It drifted downstream, striking the moored towing vessel Texas. It continued downstream, striking the tank ship Bravo, which was offloading crude oil. The Bravo crew was able to complete emergency shutdown procedures before it was broken from its mooring and connection points. Privocean was able to get underway and is anchored at mile marker 162. Bravo is now anchored nearby. It is taking on water in its ballast tanks, its propeller is fouled, and the crew is responding to a 126-gallon oil spill on deck. Texas is currently stable, but the crew has been taken to hospital for evaluation. The facility arms have been secured, but not before approximately 420 gallons of crude oil were spilled into the river. Response personnel are on scene. The river is currently closed between mile markers 154 and 163. The incident is under investigation. (4/6/15)."

What more could happen?

Cheers, Chris


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## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

callpor said:


> Thanks to Dennis Bryant in his maritime blog today, for the following "interesting" incident news:-
> 
> "The US Coast Guard issued a news release [located at http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2487870/] stating that it is responding to a three-ship collision and oil spill on the Lower Mississippi River near Convent, Louisiana. The bulk carrier Privocean broke free from its mooring. It drifted downstream, striking the moored towing vessel Texas. It continued downstream, striking the tank ship Bravo, which was offloading crude oil. The Bravo crew was able to complete emergency shutdown procedures before it was broken from its mooring and connection points. Privocean was able to get underway and is anchored at mile marker 162. Bravo is now anchored nearby. It is taking on water in its ballast tanks, its propeller is fouled, and the crew is responding to a 126-gallon oil spill on deck. Texas is currently stable, but the crew has been taken to hospital for evaluation. The facility arms have been secured, but not before approximately 420 gallons of crude oil were spilled into the river. Response personnel are on scene. The river is currently closed between mile markers 154 and 163. The incident is under investigation. (4/6/15)."
> 
> ...


Full story letter #4 http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=37493&highlight=union+faith


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## randcmackenzie (Aug 31, 2005)

An army of P & I surveyors and positively acres of paper.


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## ben27 (Dec 27, 2012)

good day callpor.sm.yesterday.22:39.re:lower mississippi river three ships collision!well they say things happen in threes.it has been a sorry mess.i hope the cews are o.k.thank you for posting this shipping news.and dennis bryant.regards ben27


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## Lemschout (Apr 1, 2008)

The PRIVOCEAN is now back in trade and further information on the claims amounting to some 40 milion $ is probably restricted on the
net. However it can be interesting, sad and even funny to have a look at the court case raised by the lawyers acting for BRAVO and the damaged tugboatrs as reported in the The Times Picayune of 11 April:

The suit levels a number of charges against the owner of the Privocean, including:
1: Operating the ship in a negligent or unseaworthy manner.
2: Failing to provide a properly trained and competent crew.
3: Failing to take into account the high river stage and swift river conditions on the Mississippi. The river was at 25.8 feet just upriver at Donaldsonville on Monday, about a foot below flood stage.
4: Failing to have an adequate number of tugboats to keep the ship at the Convent Marine Terminal, where it was moored.
5: Failing to have a licensed river pilot aboard while docked.
6: Failing to have the ship properly moored with the correct number of mooring lines.

Charges 1 & 2 are self-sustained by the outcome of the incident, some harm had been caused therefore some blame must be claimed for. Regarding charge 3 and 4 we can already wonder if the charterer, the agent, the terminal or the pilots had advised the management and the captain about risks caused by the high stage of the river. Anyway the Privocean had two tugs stand by to maintain it alongside, perhaps even more were needed? 
Unless there is now a regulation requiring to have a pilot on board when moored on the Mississippi charge 5 is the funny one. Regarding charge 6, some thirty years ago when coming to a silo down river ago I declared unsafe a berth where there not enough mooring points for the headlines, except if we could keep the forward tug pushing until our departure on charterer’s account. 

It would be nice if one day the full text of the procedure will be available for all those interested by ship safety on the Mississippi river. But if this can fix that less incidents happen, a lot of legal business will disappear.


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## alastairrussell (Jun 19, 2007)

Lemschout

Its great to see you back putting top posts into SN. How long have you been retired ?

Alastair


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