(1) The title sequence in the video should read “LNG” not “LPG.” [Correction: it was right to begin with. LPG carrier.]] (2) As noted in the video description, the audio is from the bridge of Genesis River. The video, however, is from Voyager.
"Genesis River" is an LPG , not LNG tanker, according to IHS. Also, the terminals she visited in the past were LPG terminals. Also, an LNG tanker of the same size would look rather different from this one, due to differences in cargo tank design.
@@nyupnik Thank you. It appears that you are correct. The NTSB sidesteps the question entirely by referring to the ship a “liquefied gas carrier,” however Coast Guard records consistently refer to Genesis River as an LPG carrier.
@@WhatYouHaventSeen I have been on the Houston Ship Canal several times, the first carrying a cargo of butane (LPG) to New Warren Terminal and I understand from the deck officers that the pilots on our ship handled the passage well. The NTSB were probably correct in calling it a "liquified gas carrier" rather than LPG, because liquid gases other than butane and propane were sometimes carried. The nastiest cargo that I remember was ammonia, and the gas freeing operations after carrying that flooded the accommodation cabins causing a great deal of distress to all. I much preferred dry bulk carriers!
To those confused: Basically what happened was that Genesis River was fish-tailing due to poor design and having just passed another vessel. They were effectively out of control and trying to regain "check up". The barge was obeying requests by Genesis River to try and get out of the way but to no avail. Its confusing because the audio is from Genesis River but the video is from Voyager.
They had more than enough time though , Was one of them targeting the other? Seeing how sharp the red barge turned so fast how come it couldn’t move out of the way in the 8 minutes everyone was telling, looks like a lot of maneuvers were done and still somehow collided ? I’m trying to understand but it look so interesting too al to me.
The accident investigation concluded that the Genesis pilot lost control through a combination of high speed and hydrodynamic effects caused by passing an earlier ship and the closeness of the bottom and the bank. The Genesis was turning to port which is why the Voyager turned to port too but then the Genesis likely touched bottom and that sharply turned it starboard and into the barges.
@@Joe_P Read the boring text in the video. I think you'll find that the time it takes for the prop shaft to change from forward to reverse is, if I read and remember correctly, somewhere around 7-8 MINUTES. I'm pretty sure this is why we hear someone in the video start to order reverse, then cancel. Collision was going to happen well before reverse could actually take effect.
The ship was carrying highly pressurized, Liquid Natural Gas and the barge was carrying a cargo of gasoline additives. This easily could've ended up being another Texas City Disaster (look it up). Given that these ships were two enormous explosions just needing a spark, the fact that there was no fire is a miracle.
Idk how there wasn't a explosion. The barges cargo was very very flammable. And inside The Port of Texas City as you are heading to the docks, there is a piece of metal that came from the explosion you mention. I can't remember how far it flew before it landed but it was a phenomenal distance. It's sitting where it landed as a reminder. Can't imagine how massive that explosion was. Fertilizer, right?
So these great ships pass each other in the channel, all the time every day, routinely. It's not clear to me what happened differently this time. I am a layman.
Pilot 1 reported ship was sluggish responding to the helm. Pilot 2 decided going faster was a good way to deal with this. Helmsman was in training, and may not have been following pilot 2's instructions as expected. Proximity to the bank was causing difficulty. Grounding may have thrown the ship into an unwanted direction.
Pilot 2 tried to pass the blame to the helmsmen on the rudder, but in my opinion the entire accident was 100% Pilot 2's fault. He was very wishy-washy and indecisive in his commands. "Rudder midship, rudder port, rudder midship, rudder starboard, rudder ...aww hell I don't really know where I want the rudder. Then asking the Voyager to cross to the other side on the channel because you lost control of your ship, knowing full well the ship responds slow but will eventually be turning directly into where you are telling the Voyager to go. Had he left them on the Red side of the channel and simply ordered full astern on the engines for a couple on minutes, they probably would not have hit. Then in his statement he said, "I did not get the RPM's... that I asked for." Hey brainstorm, did you ever think, maybe you got yourself into a bad situation and were wanting the ship to perform outside it's capabilities? Maybe that was all the RPM's the ship could muster. Just because you got yourself into a shit-storm, don't blame the ship because the ship didn't respond like a speed boat to get you out of the situation that you caused.
The other major factor in this incident is that both the Pilot and Chief Officer forgot that power plant was in 'ocean cruise mode" with severely limited ability to respond to speed changes. The engine should have been placed back in 'Manuevering" mode when opposing traffic first appeared. It is unclear to me if BOTH rudder steering pumps were engaged during the entire transit. This would yield faster response to helm commands.
I'm a Licensed Chief Engineer, I'm with you. Yeah, engaging the "Seaspeed" program was a huge mistake. First off - you are not going to get any rapid throttle increases - because you are already near maximum RPM and load on the engine. Even when the engineers dialed up more RPM - it is very likely that the pilots "Hard Over" rudder commands - triggered the load limiter on the engine - preventing any increase in RPM. The only way to override that would have been the "Emergency" button on the console - but the most likely result of doing that, is damaging the engine without gaining anything. The pilot had a vessel that he knew had a sluggish throttle response, headed down the channel at full speed. No real way to speed up, and no way at all to stop. Even going to "Emergency Reverse" would result in a backing bell until the engine stops - and at 12 knots the Propeller will windmill the engine. It takes minutes, not seconds. He painted himself into a corner, and when things went wrong he didn't have any good options.
@@stevengibson2251 In my own opinion, The pilot bears the lions share of blame here. He knows that the ship takes a lot of rudder to respond, but he's coming down channel at what is for all intents and purposes the ship's maximum speed - sure it gives him a little extra rudder command - but it also increases the bottom and bank effects that he is trying to avoid. Which means that as soon as anything goes wrong - he doesn't have any good options. He can't (effectively) speed up, and he's going too fast to stop. None of the handling factors with either the ship or the channel were unknowns or even uncommon. It's an every day challenge - that is why he is legally required to be there. I'd say he got a little complacent - you have to anticipate (a lot) to stay ahead of what the vessel is likely to do - once you are in a reactive situation, it is exceedingly difficult to recover. Personally, as the Chief Engineer - I would definitely have been on the alert for trouble as soon as they called for sea speed when I knew they were still that far up the channel, I would never have stepped away from the engine room throttles in that scenario.
I worked aboard the Voyager back in 1996. At that time, we ran in Alabama up and down the Mobile/Black Warrior/Tombigbee rivers. No ships to worry about until we got to Mobile. Glad everyone was ok.
I am a 200 ton Master. I was really studying this very detailed report and enjoying doing so until I read that the pilot was trying to blame the ASand OS. This infuriated me as this is so common of spineless persons in high positions. Blame it on the underling! Spineless. If the OS was really that lacking he should have immediately ordered the AS back on the helm. And the AS was observing that the OS WAS answering commands correctly and only took over because it was an emergency. I spent many hundreds of hours on the helm of large military ships. When you have done it as much as the OS had done it comes pretty automatically. It is a critical job but not a complex one. Also the pilots helm orders were all over the place!
Appeals court found Genesis River 100 percent at fault. The ship knew they had issues, the pilots knew the ship had issues, the company knew the ship had issues.
Read the report itself where it describes the ships doing the “Texas chicken” maneuver in which they both agreed to pass each other within half a mile, what you were saying it’s not true.
Momentum = Mass * Velocity. Even at low velocity the ship is so heavy it still packs a big amount of momentum. And the exchange of momentum is immense.
Sliced thru that barge steel like it was tinfoil. I work on Kirby Barges and that is plenty thick steel and to see it ripped open like that. Thankfully no injuries.
That’s pretty wild. You could literally sit and finish a cup of coffee watching this from the bridge while discussing the fact that you are in the middle of a huge accident. Maybe get a chance to finish a crossword puzzle or last years taxes. Lol
and during all that time you are in mental and physical pain trying to avoid inevitable, questioning your self where you made mistake, will your mistake cause someones death or injury, regretting your whole life up to that moment already see consequences and you know its nothing good in your future...
There was a touch of comedy about this as bad as it was. It reminded me of a weird YT clip when a cruise ship in danger of sinking in stormy seas, a guy made his way to the bridge after failing to find any officers. He fiddled around with the radio until he got it working and put out a Mayday call which was answered. Rescue ship "Whats your position please?" Guy on bridge, "err I don't know but we need help, we're sinking". Rescue ship, "who am I speaking to?" Guy on bridge, "I'm a guitarist in a band" Rescue ship, "then get off the bridge and let the Captain speak" Guy on bridge, "he's not here.....he abandoned the ship".
Cruise ship off South Africa, crew abandoned ship and passengers, and you're correct the musician arranged the whole evacuation by helicopter before the vessel sank.
The Captain was actually still on the ship. He tried to leave early on, with most of the rest of the crew, but the entertainers wouldn't let him. Later he tried to defend his fleeing by saying that abandon ship means everybody abandon ship and that if people wanted to stay on board that was their choice. The main reasons everybody survived was because the ship was just a few miles from land, plus a bloody marvellous effort by the South African Air Force's helicopters, flying virtually non-stop.
Not a qualified Captain but it seems to me that maybe the thing that doomed them was the Genesis going form Maneuvering to Sea speed. If they had the throttle authority they might have been able to maintain better rudder effectiveness.
As a Marine Chief Engineer, I concur with your assessment. Once the Sea Speed program was engaged, he did not have the option of increasing speed in any practical sense. Maneuvering speed is just that - coming down channel at 12 knots, when he already knows that the vessel has a sluggish helm response didn't really leave himself with options - he can neither speed up, nor slow down quickly, stopping will take minutes. I have to admit, that I am left slightly curious as to why a "well rested" individual needs to drink a "5-hour energy drink" before stepping into a situation that needs careful judgement and calm assessment. I'll add one more detail, that just occurred to me - since it wasn't addressed in the report. One additional reason that the main engine may not have accelerated - even a limited amount, is because large rudder angles increase the engine load significantly - so since there were on the Sea Speed program - the rudder angles may have triggered the engine load limiter, thus overriding anything but an "Emergency" command. Just one more reason not to maneuver above "maneuvering speed".
@@hp2084 and yet he tried to blame the helmsman very clearly. Shameful. Saying he was fully completing commands before executing the next one, instead of disregarding the previous when a new command was issued. With orders coming that fast it would essentially mean he would have to stand there and do nothing at all by pilot 2's logic.
@@theblackbear211 I didn't see where he said he had a 5 hour energy, but you're right, so,eome lied. There was also the discrepancy wherein pilot 2 said he didn't meat the quartermaster I think. How could he clai, he was unaware of the man in the control room with him?
The audio is from the opposing ship while the video is from the tug boat. The ship was going to fast to maneuver and the current turned it into the barge. Yes avoidable had the pilot been going slower
The american guy isnt the captain, thats the pilot giving the orders. You can hear him saying to call the other pilot before shit hits the fan. The problem is, it is not his fault (legally), the Master presence on the brigde is mandatory during manoeuvering and he is the most responsible person onboard except if ship is passing Suez and Panama Canal, in these two channels, pilot is responsible for the ship. The indian guy who is on bridge is probably chief.officer or some junior officer who is not going to argue with the pilot because pilots can be very tricky sometimes and can.give hard time.
Reading through the comments it's funny watching people talk about what happened and the design of the ship and how the ship hit bottom who have never been on the HSC and never piloted a vessel. I've been a pilot on the Houston ship channel for thirteen years. I've come in and out of Bayport flare a thousand times. There's a huge entrance into Bayport flare. Though coming inbound from the south of Houston ship channel and coming outbound from the north of the ship channel at Bayport is a bit narrow and then there is a pretty good bend if you will or turn that you're going to make outbound and inbound right at the Bayport flare. Tows slide, boats slide, and ships slide while making this turn. We also do a maneuver here in Texas called the Texas chicken where two ships or two tows will point almost directly at each other and then break away upon meeting and after passing will return to their respected positions in the middle of the ship channel which is 50-55 feet deep. Even at the Bayport flare it's still very deep. The ship slid into the barges after trying to meet another ship and his sideways slide was obviously more than he anticipated. I've had this happen many times. I've had ships slide past me literally 30 feet off of my vessel at the bend at Morgan's point. Just a week ago the wind was blowing 50 mph and passing Baytown highlines a ship was sliding towards my port and being "set" to my port by the high winds. We passed each other by maybe 50 feet which is way too close for comfort, but we made it and laughed a little.
This was beautiful, really. It is an excellent example of why we use local pilots to navigate difficult local situations. The Ordinary Seaman might well have had a better outcome in full control of all systems himself, but then this is with respect to Texas pilots, so... It's hard to go from being a cowboy with your longhorns to being responsible for anything big that isn't from Texas, as the pilots were discussing.
I think the pilot was simply traveling the ship at an unsafe speed for the confined body of water and the vessel rate of response to inputs from the helm. He makes a blatant attempt to throw all of the blame onto the OS at the helm but the recorded evidence shows that the pilot’s orders were followed faithfully. The pilot had already recognized that tiller changes were not immediately felt and yet he later claims this failing is the fault of the IS at the helm. The record shows that this pilot also had consumed an excessive quantity of caffeinated. Despite claiming to have gotten 9 hours of sleep the night before. The fault is the pilot’s, all day long.
In the interviews, the engineer reported that he didn't really follow the pilot's command for more speed because the pilot didn't specifically say that it's an emergency situation. He said that it's the bridge crew's responsibility to press the "this is an emergency, so orders should not be ignored" button to override engine control. That idiot should never be allowed to operate anything bigger than a lawn mower again.
Your phrase: "That idiot should never be allowed to operate anything bigger than a lawn mower again." applies to the Pilots of the Genesis River, who should have maintained lower headway, knowing they had a "small rudder", slow-to-respond ship under command. Instead of throwing the crew under the bus and flapping their gums about the "house fire the night before."!!
If the Voyager would have stayed on the reds anyways the ship would’ve missed him. The ship asked him to go to the greens but at that distance and with doubled up 30’s he had so chance to make it across
In that situation: either the towing vessel was going to be hit or the barges were going to be hit. If the Voyager had gone to starboard and the head of the tow grounded, all options for escape would have disappeared.
He hit him in the ship lane. If he stayed in the barge lane the ship would’ve missed him and there’s enough water in most places in the Houston ship channel to leave the barge lane
A. Did I really just read that whole report? B. Should have put text on video so we understand the audio is not from that ship. C. The findings or conclusions would have been nice. D. Did I really just read this whole report? 🤣 man I need a hobby.
The video is kinda deceiving because it makes it look like there is a ton of room to operate in but I am assuming that wasnt the case even though they are both big boats
It's like trains but worse. You can see a collision coming way ahead but you can't do anything about it. Huge mountains of steel with immense inertia. Shipping is spooky.
I work on a tug boat in this area. This is Galveston bay. It's only 6ft deep outside of the marked ship channel. Not a lot of room at all. I was in the area when this happened. Bolivar to be exact. Every cpt I've talked to said they would have driven the tug out of the channel into the shallows where the ship couldn't get to him but that's a bunch of armchair quarterbacking. Shit happens so fast and these tugs don't move quick with two 30k barrel barges abreast
I remember the day this happened, I was waiting for inspectors to release us from TPC, wasn’t released 10 minutes and last line dropped when traffic calls to stop all movement on the HSC. I felt that when the captain said FUUUUUUUK!!! Nothing the tug could do when these ships are 10 times faster than you are.
I’m ignorant about this , but why didn’t the ship reverse engine power earlier, once again I don’t know how ships handle so I’m trying to make sense, because it seems like he knew he was in trouble way before the collision happened.
I have operated a small boat and if you have little forward speed your rudder has little effect.Full speed gives you a quicker response to turn.Ships of this size take eons to manoeuvre rapidly .I think they gave it full power for that reason until impact was imminent and at that point the slower they went the less momentum left in the ship when they came together.
that tanker ship takes 3 and a half minutes to stop it's engine ,and another 2 to get it running backwards (the propeller is directly connected to the engine!) he was trying to build some speed (like the other commenter said) so he could use his rudder more efficiently ,but it was too late since he actually touched the bottom of the river and then it was "all over the place" ,but he did turn at the last minute to hit the barge and not the tow boat to avoid killing people.
@@vasopel Yes.These are big vessels with a lot of displacement in shallow water which makes rudder response even worse. If he touched the bottom then .....
Im not sure what happened he just came out of no where. Its amazing that objects that are the size of skyscraper buildings can collide when they are moving at 30 knots tops and can see each other for miles before getting to a point where collision is unavoidable.
Man that dude was hustling along. I'm no sailor, but that was damn fast for a channel transit. Dang. (Sailors help me out here. Is that normal? And what the heck is a "bulb and fin" system?)
It seems clear that the majority of the fault lies with the channel pilots. I wonder whose insurance paid for all the damage. It should be the Port of Houston or the State of Texas.
You don't understand that big vessels take so long to maneuver, in fact you already crashed 10 min ago if you didn't plan ahead, all you can do is ls watch the accident play out
I was so very confused by the audio and video before I read the reports. I understand now that the audio is from the genesis and the video is from the voyager.
Don’t know if he was, but he sounded green af. Can’t imagine why they were that fast, especially passing another large deep-draft tanker in a shallow channel. I’m no seaman, but I know when I pass an oncoming truck and I’m loaded and floaty, it makes a helluva lot of turbulence.
I see what happened here. The ship we're on is over to the right of the marked channel, the oncoming ship is on the same side of the channel. The ship we're on is trying to move over to the other (left) side and at 1:27 the pilot on the oncoming ship tells his wheelman to go hard right (probably to stay between the channel markers not to avoid the other ship) which then points them directly at the camera ship. I guess the pilot underestimated how much steering authority the ship actually had because there was surely no need to go that hard to the right?
I always wondered why a huge inflatable barrier couldn't be designed and put to use for potentially fatal situations. Like hit a button or crank a lever to inflate a buffer on the sides of the ship where contact is imminent.
Have you seen that bow? Would slice right through any bubble you put there, the water would push back once the bow hit but maybe it would slow down. Still a total loss in either case
Considering the forces at play, that would be the equivalent to taping a piece of bubble wrap to the front of your car in the hopes it will lessen the damage of a 60 mph collision.
Pilot wanted to increase prop wash over the rudder for enhanced control. Per the report in the video, transitioning from forward to reverse is a very long process, and involves stopping and then reversing the engine itself.
yet another major event when the captain of the vessel decides that his presence is not required in the wheelhouse. Having had a successful career at sea over 17 years followed by a 30 year career as an airline pilot, I can't recall any time with a critical situation underway where I would not ensure that I was present to monitor what decisions were being made. Lunch ? Give me a break !
What is the root cause of the accident? It wasn’t in the report as an executive summary as we used to call them. When the Genesis realized he was going to hit the barge, why didn’t he reverse engines and tell the Tug to do the same at the same time. It seems that the Genesis knew there would be a collision but didn’t want to hit the Tug but instead hit the barge, to avoid injury or worse to crew. That’s fine, but why not get both ships stopped or at least slowed as much as possible? To minimize the extent of damage. Since the tug was going slow, I wondered what did the tug captain think of, instead of following the orders from the Genesis, his ship with barges responded readily, it seems. Heck go in reverse full. He was going slow to begin with relative to the Genesis speed.
Marine Chief Engineer here - if you look at the details in the report, the Genesis uses a direct reversing engine - coupled directly to a fixed pitch propeller. What this means- is that before you can reverse the engine, it has to come to a complete stop - and at 12 knots, the propeller is going to windmill the engine... after you have stopped, then, and only then, can the engine start running in reverse. That takes minutes, not seconds. In the mean time, you reduce what little rudder control that you have. As for the tug - he's already down to 4mph, with the tide pushing him - he can reverse, but he's really just a sitting duck by that point. In My Opinion, it was a mistake to bring the the Genesis' engine up on the "Full Sea Speed" program - because that effectively overrides the engine order telegraph commands, unless you hit the emergency control on the telegraph. So the pilot had a ship that he already knows has poor rudder control coming down channel above it's normal maneuvering speed. Meaning he can't readily get more power if he needs it, and there is no way in the world to stop the vessel in any reasonable distance or time. Once he got out of shape his only option was trying choose what he was going to hit.
Hard to say what should have occurred when I was not there. But why wouldn't the tug have stayed and/or run for shallow water outside the buoys where the ship could not get to them? Why head into the channel water where the ship will want to sheer? Also, the Oak sheered as well, so that is where it started. Just too many things happened at once and this time it did not work out.
He headed into the channel cause visual and electronic showed if he stayed in his channel he was going to get crushed, they did the right move. The problem was the pilot 2 on the genius and the ships rudders; the pilot mis-judged the ships rudder reactions (heavy rains from over night increased water flow which in turn had a negative effect on the ships small rudders), he tried blaming the OS helmsman but it is his responsibility. When the rudders did start reacting it turned the ship back into the main channel (remember all those go right, go left commands?) they went into the barges. Hope that helps
@@JohnSmith-gb5vg First Class Pilot here, been in two similar accidents, just giving my experience. The main thing whenever anyone is in that situation, they are the one's button holing, everyone else is an armchair quarterbacking. The only thing that can help you is to stay in the water the other guy can't go in. And let the Good Lord watch out for you! Both these guys did what they could and must be admired for that! Now they are the experienced guys, the others not having been in this is not. I am glad no one got hurt. Funny thing they will not get in there and cut those bends out and wider because of no dredging funds, yet they always have funds to clean this up!
Sir, when I first heard that some of the channel was too shallow my first thought was why wasn't it dredged? I'm retired USAF around fighters my entire career but have an off-shore boat for recreation and understand the need for dredging. It's crazy because proper channel management could have stopped this.
@@EagleTwo758 I agree! Shoaling will always occur. What I was speaking of, the cut is sharp and tight and it is known big ships run through it. The barge lanes are outside the deep draft channel and are a minimum of 12 feet. But in any case, these guys were in a situation that is horrible, they did the best they could with what they had! God Bless them all!
Questions that weren't asked: If the engine had not been set in "Full Nav", or it over-ridden, would the outcome have been more favorable? Was either Pilot made aware of the real-time actions of the throttle when set to "Full Nav"? Who, verbally and physically, is responsible for overriding the engine's control system/computer? The fuel saving are huge but at the expense of maneuverability. One would think that the cost of an assist tug, or even two of them, can not be so great as to negate the savings, especially here and NY/NJ. I suppose I could check a certain website and another 'tuber to hopefully find out but.....
It seems so strange to me that as big and vast as the ocean is how one ship can collide with another. I know that there are zones that they travel in, but wow.
This happened in the Houston ship channel and it isn’t very wide when next to a over taking ship, but I agree the tug could’ve turned out of the channel entirely and out into the flats and take a chance of running aground instead of being t-boned by a ship. And the water is very shallow on both sides of the channel but offshore yes I agree with you
That was yet another example on how highly qualified experienced pilot behaves like a little kid once situation becomes unstandart. Before Pilot 2 always used to increase speed to 10 min notice right upon passing Morgan's point, and he did it no matter that particular vessel was already noticed as having poor response on the rudder, and with that UKC and overspeed she'd become completely out of control. They must all the time proceed with reduced speed having immediately effective reserve engine power in order to help with steering once needed. Wrong speed caused increased bank effect, loss of control and following crasy panic orders. Houston ship channel is one of the most difficult in USA, Texas Chicken is being used only there. Once 10-20 min notice can be used during pilotage in some other places, it should be strictly limited in Houston channel. Myself never allowed Houston pilots to do that. By the way in that particular case time saving for remaining passage could be 5-7 min only!
@@JimHerbertOutdoors Basically in channels and other areas with waters that are dangerous, difficult to navigate or can quickly change conditions a ship will take on a pilot who is an individual experienced in navigating that stretch of waters, from a pilot house/station so they can guide the bridge crew through the stretch, once they're past the difficult area or are out of danger and no longer need the pilot they will return to the pilot house/station to serve the next vessel. This term has been used in this manner before lighter-than-air craft were employed in any serious manner I'd wager.
Honestly, I would’ve hooked up and hard over and went completely out of the channel and take my chances running aground in the flats, then hopefully avoid all collisions but then I’d have to deal with paperwork and the cost guard for a grounding but I think it’s the best choice not only for the vessels and crewman involved but also for the environment! So Houston Traffic should allow for a controlled grounding in situations like that because that tug could’ve sank in just a few seconds had the ship hit the tug and not the tow, and being that a grounding is frowned upon, that grounding his tow didn’t even cross the captains mind.
There's a few out there with a single 14 cylinder engine that puts out almost 110,000 horsepower... largest most powerful diesel engine out there.. bigger than a house.
I don't like that the pilot attempted to throw the OS under the bus. Who ended up getting nailed for this? I'm assuming it's Pilot #2 and not the OS at the helm until just before collision.
I bave a velcro baby. She loves being around me and her father. As long as she is with one or the other shes at peace so we both this so that she can be with either or while we do housework. Only downside is that our backs feel as if they are about to break when wearing her. A funny side to the pain is her father knows somewhat of what i felt when pregnant with her.
Seems like both ships could've gone full reverse engines and avoided the collision, or at least it would've likely reduced the collision speed by some amount. Just a thought by a non captain, so may be FoS. ;-)
1:14 if they had both STOPPED right there, they could have avoided this. Things were out of control when the Genesis passed across the bow of the tow boat at 1:14. This fell under the "Human Factors" categories of "complacency" and "norms". They had set up the bad practice of proceeding at "sea normal" speed when they should have been at channel maneuvering speed. They normalized this behavior and became complacent about it.... and it resulted in this collision.
Just an ignorant land dweller here, but could increased currents emanating from the Bayport Channel have played a role in pushing the Genesis River toward the red side of the Houston Channel? I realize there's a lot of open water in between the location of the collision and the land to the west where the Bayport Channel originates, but I was just thinking there might have been more water flowing out through the Bayport Channel due to all the rain that had recently fallen. The pilot did say something in the report about increased currents.
(1) The title sequence in the video should read “LNG” not “LPG.” [Correction: it was right to begin with. LPG carrier.]]
(2) As noted in the video description, the audio is from the bridge of Genesis River. The video, however, is from Voyager.
What was the punishment or penalties to those responsible?
"Genesis River" is an LPG , not LNG tanker, according to IHS. Also, the terminals she visited in the past were LPG terminals. Also, an LNG tanker of the same size would look rather different from this one, due to differences in cargo tank design.
@@nyupnik Thank you. It appears that you are correct. The NTSB sidesteps the question entirely by referring to the ship a “liquefied gas carrier,” however Coast Guard records consistently refer to Genesis River as an LPG carrier.
Deliberate!
@@WhatYouHaventSeen I have been on the Houston Ship Canal several times, the first carrying a cargo of butane (LPG) to New Warren Terminal and I understand from the deck officers that the pilots on our ship handled the passage well.
The NTSB were probably correct in calling it a "liquified gas carrier" rather than LPG, because liquid gases other than butane and propane were sometimes carried.
The nastiest cargo that I remember was ammonia, and the gas freeing operations after carrying that flooded the accommodation cabins causing a great deal of distress to all. I much preferred dry bulk carriers!
To those confused: Basically what happened was that Genesis River was fish-tailing due to poor design and having just passed another vessel. They were effectively out of control and trying to regain "check up". The barge was obeying requests by Genesis River to try and get out of the way but to no avail. Its confusing because the audio is from Genesis River but the video is from Voyager.
Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering why they couldn't avoid each other but now I understand. Thanks
I was wondering also! Plus that is a bit of reading and confusing for a certified land dweller. Like myself
They had more than enough time though , Was one of them targeting the other? Seeing how sharp the red barge turned so fast how come it couldn’t move out of the way in the 8 minutes everyone was telling, looks like a lot of maneuvers were done and still somehow collided ? I’m trying to understand but it look so interesting too al to me.
@@MZ-bl6wg he did say one was suffering do its design.
Is this Texas city ?
For those not clear about things, the audio is from a different ship than the video perspective.
Now THIS is a a dashcam video!
Before that, it was definitely pod racing.
Yes, but unusual to have dashcam video from your vehicle and dashcam audio from the other vehicle lol
The rumors go that the pilot is now working for "Swift" 😂
Really…Genesis River actually had a qualified local Pilot on the bridge? Go figure!
Or Amazon Prime.
No definitely swift!
@@denniscrane9753 Amazon Prime is catching up fast. At least Swift has trucks, Amazon Prime can't drive a van.
Swift : Sure Wish I Finished Training
"I'm givin' 'er all she's got captain!"
I figured this would be #1 comment.
"I...need more.....power"!!
@@anthonypirozzi837 You run the risk of cracking the Dilithium crystals!
She can't take much more sir..
Dammit Scotty! Jettison the core!
The accident investigation concluded that the Genesis pilot lost control through a combination of high speed and hydrodynamic effects caused by passing an earlier ship and the closeness of the bottom and the bank. The Genesis was turning to port which is why the Voyager turned to port too but then the Genesis likely touched bottom and that sharply turned it starboard and into the barges.
Did the pilot lose his job ?
What are the penalties or punishment for causing such a collision ?
Also the Genesis pilot went to starboard late to hit the tow and not the tug boat. Really crazy events
I don't understand why they couldn't have gone full reverse just to try and stop their momentum? Would that have done nothing at all?
@@Joe_P it takes miles for ships these size to stop, even with a full reverse.
@@Joe_P Read the boring text in the video. I think you'll find that the time it takes for the prop shaft to change from forward to reverse is, if I read and remember correctly, somewhere around 7-8 MINUTES. I'm pretty sure this is why we hear someone in the video start to order reverse, then cancel. Collision was going to happen well before reverse could actually take effect.
The ship was carrying highly pressurized, Liquid Natural Gas and the barge was carrying a cargo of gasoline additives. This easily could've ended up being another Texas City Disaster (look it up). Given that these ships were two enormous explosions just needing a spark, the fact that there was no fire is a miracle.
Or the Halifax Explosion.
or they have created a new, super-cool fuel
@@KelleysQuiltsandCruises exactly what I was gonna say. Cheers from Alberta.
Idk how there wasn't a explosion. The barges cargo was very very flammable. And inside The Port of Texas City as you are heading to the docks, there is a piece of metal that came from the explosion you mention. I can't remember how far it flew before it landed but it was a phenomenal distance. It's sitting where it landed as a reminder. Can't imagine how massive that explosion was. Fertilizer, right?
@@KelleysQuiltsandCruises oh yea that was a big explosion as well.
So these great ships pass each other in the channel, all the time every day, routinely. It's not clear to me what happened differently this time. I am a layman.
Pilot 1 reported ship was sluggish responding to the helm.
Pilot 2 decided going faster was a good way to deal with this.
Helmsman was in training, and may not have been following pilot 2's instructions as expected.
Proximity to the bank was causing difficulty.
Grounding may have thrown the ship into an unwanted direction.
Pilot 2 tried to pass the blame to the helmsmen on the rudder, but in my opinion the entire accident was 100% Pilot 2's fault. He was very wishy-washy and indecisive in his commands. "Rudder midship, rudder port, rudder midship, rudder starboard, rudder ...aww hell I don't really know where I want the rudder. Then asking the Voyager to cross to the other side on the channel because you lost control of your ship, knowing full well the ship responds slow but will eventually be turning directly into where you are telling the Voyager to go. Had he left them on the Red side of the channel and simply ordered full astern on the engines for a couple on minutes, they probably would not have hit.
Then in his statement he said, "I did not get the RPM's... that I asked for." Hey brainstorm, did you ever think, maybe you got yourself into a bad situation and were wanting the ship to perform outside it's capabilities? Maybe that was all the RPM's the ship could muster. Just because you got yourself into a shit-storm, don't blame the ship because the ship didn't respond like a speed boat to get you out of the situation that you caused.
The other major factor in this incident is that both the Pilot and Chief Officer forgot that power plant was in 'ocean cruise mode" with severely limited ability to respond to speed changes. The engine should have been placed back in 'Manuevering" mode when opposing traffic first appeared. It is unclear to me if BOTH rudder steering pumps were engaged during the entire transit. This would yield faster response to helm commands.
@@KB4QAA The report states that rudder response was rapid - within the time specs for 2 pumps operating.
I'm a Licensed Chief Engineer, I'm with you. Yeah, engaging the "Seaspeed" program was a huge mistake.
First off - you are not going to get any rapid throttle increases - because you are already near maximum RPM and load on the engine.
Even when the engineers dialed up more RPM -
it is very likely that the pilots "Hard Over" rudder commands - triggered the load limiter on the engine - preventing any increase in RPM.
The only way to override that would have been the "Emergency" button on the console -
but the most likely result of doing that, is damaging the engine without gaining anything.
The pilot had a vessel that he knew had a sluggish throttle response, headed down the channel at full speed.
No real way to speed up, and no way at all to stop.
Even going to "Emergency Reverse" would result in a backing bell until the engine stops - and at 12 knots the Propeller will windmill the engine.
It takes minutes, not seconds.
He painted himself into a corner, and when things went wrong he didn't have any good options.
@@theblackbear211 Nice when someone knows what they are talking about. In your professional opinion, who was mostly at fault in the accident?
@@stevengibson2251 In my own opinion, The pilot bears the lions share of blame here.
He knows that the ship takes a lot of rudder to respond, but he's coming down channel at what is for all intents and purposes the ship's maximum speed -
sure it gives him a little extra rudder command - but it also increases the bottom and bank effects that he is trying to avoid. Which means that as soon as anything goes wrong - he doesn't have any good options.
He can't (effectively) speed up, and he's going too fast to stop.
None of the handling factors with either the ship or the channel were unknowns or even uncommon. It's an every day challenge - that is why he is legally required to be there.
I'd say he got a little complacent - you have to anticipate (a lot) to stay ahead of what the vessel is likely to do - once you are in a reactive situation, it is exceedingly difficult to recover.
Personally, as the Chief Engineer - I would definitely have been on the alert for trouble as soon as they called for sea speed when I knew they were still that far up the channel, I would never have stepped away from the engine room throttles in that scenario.
I worked aboard the Voyager back in 1996. At that time, we ran in Alabama up and down the Mobile/Black Warrior/Tombigbee rivers. No ships to worry about until we got to Mobile. Glad everyone was ok.
Did you work with Bemis?
I am a 200 ton Master. I was really studying this very detailed report and enjoying doing so until I read that the pilot was trying to blame the ASand OS. This infuriated me as this is so common of spineless persons in high positions. Blame it on the underling! Spineless. If the OS was really that lacking he should have immediately ordered the AS back on the helm. And the AS was observing that the OS WAS answering commands correctly and only took over because it was an emergency. I spent many hundreds of hours on the helm of large military ships. When you have done it as much as the OS had done it comes pretty automatically. It is a critical job but not a complex one. Also the pilots helm orders were all over the place!
Yeah, I kinda agree. From the transcript of the depo it seemed like the OS was qualified and competent.
Appeals court found Genesis River 100 percent at fault. The ship knew they had issues, the pilots knew the ship had issues, the company knew the ship had issues.
But I thought the ship on the right had the right oh way, and it’s also bigger so that comes into play also.
If only the “CAPTAIN LOOOOK!” guy was on board
Underrated comment lmao
...That made me look. Now chill the fuck out. :)
The marketing pitch: “She can turn on a dime”.
Reality: 3 mile delay between rudder input and start of a turn
They never said how far away the dime was.
@@fredmercury1314 Which fails to understand the phrase.
@@Dr.Ian-Plect No, it's just a loophole.
@@fredmercury1314 No, it ignores the meaning.
Read the report itself where it describes the ships doing the “Texas chicken” maneuver in which they both agreed to pass each other within half a mile, what you were saying it’s not true.
Momentum = Mass * Velocity. Even at low velocity the ship is so heavy it still packs a big amount of momentum. And the exchange of momentum is immense.
Hitting the other ship bow on is the safest for the LPG carrier - anything else and a ruptured tank is a certainty.
Sliced thru that barge steel like it was tinfoil. I work on Kirby Barges and that is plenty thick steel and to see it ripped open like that. Thankfully no injuries.
@Stephen Mintz lol what is that from. It's a movie line isn't it?
Nm. Top Gun yeeeehaaaaw
Those barges aren't light weght either you know several several tons a piece
Damn it Jim I'm only a doctor
That’s pretty wild. You could literally sit and finish a cup of coffee watching this from the bridge while discussing the fact that you are in the middle of a huge accident. Maybe get a chance to finish a crossword puzzle or last years taxes. Lol
I worked on the water its different when you 'crash' it just keeps going and going then slowly things slow down to a stop.
Like Kevin being run over by the steam roller in a Fish Called Wanda
and during all that time you are in mental and physical pain trying to avoid inevitable, questioning your self where you made mistake, will your mistake cause someones death or injury, regretting your whole life up to that moment already see consequences and you know its nothing good in your future...
Yeah. That struck me as well. For the first 3/4 of the vid, I'm still trying to figure out what ship is gonna hit them!
@@wallyman292 Pre emptive strike i reckon
There was a touch of comedy about this as bad as it was. It reminded me of a weird YT clip when a cruise ship in danger of sinking in stormy seas, a guy made his way to the bridge after failing to find any officers. He fiddled around with the radio until he got it working and put out a Mayday call which was answered.
Rescue ship "Whats your position please?"
Guy on bridge, "err I don't know but we need help, we're sinking".
Rescue ship, "who am I speaking to?"
Guy on bridge, "I'm a guitarist in a band"
Rescue ship, "then get off the bridge and let the Captain speak"
Guy on bridge, "he's not here.....he abandoned the ship".
Cruise ship off South Africa, crew abandoned ship and passengers, and you're correct the musician arranged the whole evacuation by helicopter before the vessel sank.
@@tovemaersk do you have the name of the ship? I'd like to hear that exchange
@@tydog29 MTS Oceanos
The Captain was actually still on the ship. He tried to leave early on, with most of the rest of the crew, but the entertainers wouldn't let him.
Later he tried to defend his fleeing by saying that abandon ship means everybody abandon ship and that if people wanted to stay on board that was their choice. The main reasons everybody survived was because the ship was just a few miles from land, plus a bloody marvellous effort by the South African Air Force's helicopters, flying virtually non-stop.
Jeeze
The accident report you provided did a fantastic job of explaining what was happening. Thanks for adding it. Good read
Not a qualified Captain but it seems to me that maybe the thing that doomed them was the Genesis going form Maneuvering to Sea speed. If they had the throttle authority they might have been able to maintain better rudder effectiveness.
Yup, and by all looks of it, it seems like pilot 2 was at fault.
As a Marine Chief Engineer, I concur with your assessment.
Once the Sea Speed program was engaged, he did not have the option of increasing speed in any practical sense.
Maneuvering speed is just that - coming down channel at 12 knots, when he already knows that the vessel has a sluggish helm response
didn't really leave himself with options - he can neither speed up, nor slow down quickly, stopping will take minutes.
I have to admit, that I am left slightly curious as to why a "well rested" individual needs to drink a "5-hour energy drink" before stepping into a situation
that needs careful judgement and calm assessment.
I'll add one more detail, that just occurred to me - since it wasn't addressed in the report.
One additional reason that the main engine may not have accelerated - even a limited amount, is because large rudder angles increase the engine load significantly -
so since there were on the Sea Speed program - the rudder angles may have triggered the engine load limiter, thus overriding anything but an "Emergency" command.
Just one more reason not to maneuver above "maneuvering speed".
Once they touched bottom it was over. It might have helped but snagging the bottom definitely put them in nature's hands.
@@hp2084 and yet he tried to blame the helmsman very clearly. Shameful. Saying he was fully completing commands before executing the next one, instead of disregarding the previous when a new command was issued. With orders coming that fast it would essentially mean he would have to stand there and do nothing at all by pilot 2's logic.
@@theblackbear211 I didn't see where he said he had a 5 hour energy, but you're right, so,eome lied. There was also the discrepancy wherein pilot 2 said he didn't meat the quartermaster I think. How could he clai, he was unaware of the man in the control room with him?
This seemed extremely avoidable but I'm not a ship captain so who knows
The audio is from the opposing ship while the video is from the tug boat. The ship was going to fast to maneuver and the current turned it into the barge. Yes avoidable had the pilot been going slower
It was avoidable but the captain was speeding in a no speeding zone.
The american guy isnt the captain, thats the pilot giving the orders. You can hear him saying to call the other pilot before shit hits the fan.
The problem is, it is not his fault (legally), the Master presence on the brigde is mandatory during manoeuvering and he is the most responsible person onboard except if ship is passing Suez and Panama Canal, in these two channels, pilot is responsible for the ship.
The indian guy who is on bridge is probably chief.officer or some junior officer who is not going to argue with the pilot because pilots can be very tricky sometimes and can.give hard time.
@@vladimirgvozdenovic904 Good information, thank you.
I am, and you're correct
Captain later stated.. How can this be my fault? I wasn't even in the wheel house... LOL
I don't really understand any of this but damn he turned right into him lol
in the report he realized he was going to hit them and he intentionally aimed for the barges to avoid the tub boat crew.
Not into “him” but it* or ‘into them’, meaning into the barge(s)*.
@@saltMagic tug* not “tub”.
I thought getting a pilot's license was difficult, and required years of training, so that ships wouldn't hit each other in your home port.
Reading through the comments it's funny watching people talk about what happened and the design of the ship and how the ship hit bottom who have never been on the HSC and never piloted a vessel. I've been a pilot on the Houston ship channel for thirteen years. I've come in and out of Bayport flare a thousand times. There's a huge entrance into Bayport flare. Though coming inbound from the south of Houston ship channel and coming outbound from the north of the ship channel at Bayport is a bit narrow and then there is a pretty good bend if you will or turn that you're going to make outbound and inbound right at the Bayport flare. Tows slide, boats slide, and ships slide while making this turn. We also do a maneuver here in Texas called the Texas chicken where two ships or two tows will point almost directly at each other and then break away upon meeting and after passing will return to their respected positions in the middle of the ship channel which is 50-55 feet deep. Even at the Bayport flare it's still very deep. The ship slid into the barges after trying to meet another ship and his sideways slide was obviously more than he anticipated.
I've had this happen many times. I've had ships slide past me literally 30 feet off of my vessel at the bend at Morgan's point. Just a week ago the wind was blowing 50 mph and passing Baytown highlines a ship was sliding towards my port and being "set" to my port by the high winds. We passed each other by maybe 50 feet which is way too close for comfort, but we made it and laughed a little.
Like 6 year old boy: full power, full power.... Stop that engine...
Captain Kirk: Scotty, damage report.
Captain Kirk: Scotty, I need that report!!!
Cadet: Ah Captain, Scotty beamed himself off the ship 20 seconds ago.
This was beautiful, really. It is an excellent example of why we use local pilots to navigate difficult local situations. The Ordinary Seaman might well have had a better outcome in full control of all systems himself, but then this is with respect to Texas pilots, so... It's hard to go from being a cowboy with your longhorns to being responsible for anything big that isn't from Texas, as the pilots were discussing.
Austin Powers, Steamroller. That's all I have to say.
Perfection in comment form. If there ever was one.
I'll see your Austin Powers, Steamroller and raise you A Fish Called Wanda, Steamroller.
And one Killdozer for good measure
I think the pilot was simply traveling the ship at an unsafe speed for the confined body of water and the vessel rate of response to inputs from the helm.
He makes a blatant attempt to throw all of the blame onto the OS at the helm but the recorded evidence shows that the pilot’s orders were followed faithfully. The pilot had already recognized that tiller changes were not immediately felt and yet he later claims this failing is the fault of the IS at the helm.
The record shows that this pilot also had consumed an excessive quantity of caffeinated. Despite claiming to have gotten 9 hours of sleep the night before.
The fault is the pilot’s, all day long.
Evergiven had similar "high speed fluid dynamic" impacts. You'd think they'd learn.
In the interviews, the engineer reported that he didn't really follow the pilot's command for more speed because the pilot didn't specifically say that it's an emergency situation. He said that it's the bridge crew's responsibility to press the "this is an emergency, so orders should not be ignored" button to override engine control. That idiot should never be allowed to operate anything bigger than a lawn mower again.
Your phrase: "That idiot should never be allowed to operate anything bigger than a lawn mower again." applies to the Pilots of the Genesis River, who should have maintained lower headway, knowing they had a "small rudder", slow-to-respond ship under command. Instead of throwing the crew under the bus and flapping their gums about the "house fire the night before."!!
captain is like
"Sammy turn!!! Sammy!!!"
"Sammy you are going to ruin the barge"
"Sammy slow down!!! “
Medium right Sammy, triple caution! You have to listen to me. Concentrate! MEDIUM LEEEEFT!
@@buckstarchaser2376 hahaha!!!!!
Shut up and let me drive!
If the Voyager would have stayed on the reds anyways the ship would’ve missed him. The ship asked him to go to the greens but at that distance and with doubled up 30’s he had so chance to make it across
but he followed instructions...
In that situation: either the towing vessel was going to be hit or the barges were going to be hit. If the Voyager had gone to starboard and the head of the tow grounded, all options for escape would have disappeared.
He hit him in the ship lane. If he stayed in the barge lane the ship would’ve missed him and there’s enough water in most places in the Houston ship channel to leave the barge lane
Capt crunch at it again!
Lol!
I need a video to explain the video.
They're just lucky that barge didn't catch fire on impact!
So the delay in helmsman to catch up or skip to last request of pilot who was panic mode "left then right..." made the fishtailing impossible to stop
A. Did I really just read that whole report? B. Should have put text on video so we understand the audio is not from that ship. C. The findings or conclusions would have been nice. D. Did I really just read this whole report? 🤣 man I need a hobby.
LOL. That, or a wife and kids.
@@16sputnik7 ? watching a long video in YT is the good way to avoid the wife and kids ;-)
@@16sputnik7 the last thing he needs.
This sounds like classic ”chances of running aground out way the chances of a collision”
A man's got to know his limitations
The Japanese built a boat with no steering and a bow like a Samurai sword.
Sea Speed, calls the pilot, it's Texas Chicken time.
The video is kinda deceiving because it makes it look like there is a ton of room to operate in but I am assuming that wasnt the case even though they are both big boats
It's like trains but worse. You can see a collision coming way ahead but you can't do anything about it. Huge mountains of steel with immense inertia. Shipping is spooky.
@Stephen Mintz A firm handshake and a nod, for acting in the interests of life, in the moment, when it actually mattered? One would hope, anyway.
tons of room yes, but also several thousand tons of mass
I work on a tug boat in this area. This is Galveston bay. It's only 6ft deep outside of the marked ship channel. Not a lot of room at all.
I was in the area when this happened. Bolivar to be exact. Every cpt I've talked to said they would have driven the tug out of the channel into the shallows where the ship couldn't get to him but that's a bunch of armchair quarterbacking. Shit happens so fast and these tugs don't move quick with two 30k barrel barges abreast
@@IRLtrolls I was wondering why a ship was in an area where it so easily ran aground.
I remember the day this happened, I was waiting for inspectors to release us from TPC, wasn’t released 10 minutes and last line dropped when traffic calls to stop all movement on the HSC. I felt that when the captain said FUUUUUUUK!!! Nothing the tug could do when these ships are 10 times faster than you are.
I’m ignorant about this , but why didn’t the ship reverse engine power earlier, once again I don’t know how ships handle so I’m trying to make sense, because it seems like he knew he was in trouble way before the collision happened.
I have operated a small boat and if you have little forward speed your rudder has little effect.Full speed gives you a quicker response to turn.Ships of this size take eons to manoeuvre rapidly .I think they gave it full power for that reason until impact was imminent and at that point the slower they went the less momentum left in the ship when they came together.
that tanker ship takes 3 and a half minutes to stop it's engine ,and another 2 to get it running backwards (the propeller is directly connected to the engine!)
he was trying to build some speed (like the other commenter said) so he could use his rudder more efficiently ,but it was too late since he actually touched the bottom of the river and then it was "all over the place" ,but he did turn at the last minute to hit the barge and not the tow boat to avoid killing people.
@@vasopel Yes.These are big vessels with a lot of displacement in shallow water which makes rudder response even worse. If he touched the bottom then .....
Im not sure what happened he just came out of no where. Its amazing that objects that are the size of skyscraper buildings can collide when they are moving at 30 knots tops and can see each other for miles before getting to a point where collision is unavoidable.
Even in a pleasure boat the amount of mirroring people do is ridiculous
Dude that was absolutely crazy! Wow.
Man that dude was hustling along. I'm no sailor, but that was damn fast for a channel transit. Dang. (Sailors help me out here. Is that normal? And what the heck is a "bulb and fin" system?)
Towboat (Voyager) was doing around 5 mph until the hard turn which would’ve slowed him a lot and the ship probably doing around 12
Audio is from the approaching ship
Correct. (I believe I noted that in the video description.)
It seems clear that the majority of the fault lies with the channel pilots. I wonder whose insurance paid for all the damage. It should be the Port of Houston or the State of Texas.
It still amazes me how these accidents happen when your looking at the other vessel when it's so far away before the incident. Freaky.
You don't understand that big vessels take so long to maneuver, in fact you already crashed 10 min ago if you didn't plan ahead, all you can do is ls watch the accident play out
When you see the subtitle say [Hindi] you know this isn't gonna end well
We’re still shown this incident on rose point and listen to the audio in some training that we have to do when going through a simulator.
Turn the wheel Tina, Tina! TINA!! TINAAAAA!!!!
😆🤣
Wow! What a good read on this! Thank you!
I was so very confused by the audio and video before I read the reports. I understand now that the audio is from the genesis and the video is from the voyager.
Don’t know if he was, but he sounded green af. Can’t imagine why they were that fast, especially passing another large deep-draft tanker in a shallow channel. I’m no seaman, but I know when I pass an oncoming truck and I’m loaded and floaty, it makes a helluva lot of turbulence.
Quota hire piloting the ship. And it shows. I love all the rationalizations about current, steering etc. It was out and out stupidity.
the fact that I had to watch a 15 second liquid nitrogen ad from Linde made this way wierder.
I see what happened here. The ship we're on is over to the right of the marked channel, the oncoming ship is on the same side of the channel.
The ship we're on is trying to move over to the other (left) side and at 1:27 the pilot on the oncoming ship tells his wheelman to go hard right (probably to stay between the channel markers not to avoid the other ship) which then points them directly at the camera ship.
I guess the pilot underestimated how much steering authority the ship actually had because there was surely no need to go that hard to the right?
I always wondered why a huge inflatable barrier couldn't be designed and put to use for potentially fatal situations. Like hit a button or crank a lever to inflate a buffer on the sides of the ship where contact is imminent.
Not practical at all
Have you seen that bow?
Would slice right through any bubble you put there, the water would push back once the bow hit but maybe it would slow down. Still a total loss in either case
Considering the forces at play, that would be the equivalent to taping a piece of bubble wrap to the front of your car in the hopes it will lessen the damage of a 60 mph collision.
You clearly have no idea of the forces involved, even after watching the video,
I'm a tankerman. I always wondered how these large cut outs happened. This is BAD
"Give me all you've got". Should have included "in Reverse".
Nice that they considered going from full power to stop engines just before impact.
Pilot wanted to increase prop wash over the rudder for enhanced control.
Per the report in the video, transitioning from forward to reverse is a very long process, and involves stopping and then reversing the engine itself.
yet another major event when the captain of the vessel decides that his presence is not required in the wheelhouse. Having had a successful career at sea over 17 years followed by a 30 year career as an airline pilot, I can't recall any time with a critical situation underway where I would not ensure that I was present to monitor what decisions were being made. Lunch ?
Give me a break !
What is the root cause of the accident? It wasn’t in the report as an executive summary as we used to call them. When the Genesis realized he was going to hit the barge, why didn’t he reverse engines and tell the Tug to do the same at the same time. It seems that the Genesis knew there would be a collision but didn’t want to hit the Tug but instead hit the barge, to avoid injury or worse to crew. That’s fine, but why not get both ships stopped or at least slowed as much as possible? To minimize the extent of damage. Since the tug was going slow, I wondered what did the tug captain think of, instead of following the orders from the Genesis, his ship with barges responded readily, it seems. Heck go in reverse full. He was going slow to begin with relative to the Genesis speed.
Marine Chief Engineer here - if you look at the details in the report, the Genesis uses a direct reversing engine - coupled directly to a fixed pitch propeller.
What this means- is that before you can reverse the engine, it has to come to a complete stop - and at 12 knots, the propeller is going to windmill the engine...
after you have stopped, then, and only then, can the engine start running in reverse.
That takes minutes, not seconds.
In the mean time, you reduce what little rudder control that you have.
As for the tug - he's already down to 4mph, with the tide pushing him - he can reverse, but he's really just a sitting duck by that point.
In My Opinion, it was a mistake to bring the the Genesis' engine up on the "Full Sea Speed" program -
because that effectively overrides the engine order telegraph commands, unless you hit the emergency control on the telegraph.
So the pilot had a ship that he already knows has poor rudder control coming down channel above it's normal maneuvering speed.
Meaning he can't readily get more power if he needs it, and there is no way in the world to stop the vessel in any reasonable distance or time.
Once he got out of shape his only option was trying choose what he was going to hit.
Hard to say what should have occurred when I was not there. But why wouldn't the tug have stayed and/or run for shallow water outside the buoys where the ship could not get to them? Why head into the channel water where the ship will want to sheer? Also, the Oak sheered as well, so that is where it started. Just too many things happened at once and this time it did not work out.
He headed into the channel cause visual and electronic showed if he stayed in his channel he was going to get crushed, they did the right move. The problem was the pilot 2 on the genius and the ships rudders; the pilot mis-judged the ships rudder reactions (heavy rains from over night increased water flow which in turn had a negative effect on the ships small rudders), he tried blaming the OS helmsman but it is his responsibility. When the rudders did start reacting it turned the ship back into the main channel (remember all those go right, go left commands?) they went into the barges. Hope that helps
@@JohnSmith-gb5vg First Class Pilot here, been in two similar accidents, just giving my experience. The main thing whenever anyone is in that situation, they are the one's button holing, everyone else is an armchair quarterbacking. The only thing that can help you is to stay in the water the other guy can't go in. And let the Good Lord watch out for you! Both these guys did what they could and must be admired for that! Now they are the experienced guys, the others not having been in this is not. I am glad no one got hurt. Funny thing they will not get in there and cut those bends out and wider because of no dredging funds, yet they always have funds to clean this up!
Sir, when I first heard that some of the channel was too shallow my first thought was why wasn't it dredged? I'm retired USAF around fighters my entire career but have an off-shore boat for recreation and understand the need for dredging. It's crazy because proper channel management could have stopped this.
@@EagleTwo758 I agree! Shoaling will always occur. What I was speaking of, the cut is sharp and tight and it is known big ships run through it. The barge lanes are outside the deep draft channel and are a minimum of 12 feet. But in any case, these guys were in a situation that is horrible, they did the best they could with what they had! God Bless them all!
Questions that weren't asked:
If the engine had not been set in "Full Nav", or it over-ridden, would the outcome have been more favorable?
Was either Pilot made aware of the real-time actions of the throttle when set to "Full Nav"?
Who, verbally and physically, is responsible for overriding the engine's control system/computer?
The fuel saving are huge but at the expense of maneuverability. One would think that the cost of an assist tug, or even two of them, can not be so great as to negate the savings, especially here and NY/NJ.
I suppose I could check a certain website and another 'tuber to hopefully find out but.....
This is the maritime version of the Austin Powers forever imminent steam roller scene.
It seems so strange to me that as big and vast as the ocean is how one ship can collide with another. I know that there are zones that they travel in, but wow.
These two ships were in a water way channel.
This happened in the Houston ship channel and it isn’t very wide when next to a over taking ship, but I agree the tug could’ve turned out of the channel entirely and out into the flats and take a chance of running aground instead of being t-boned by a ship.
And the water is very shallow on both sides of the channel but offshore yes I agree with you
Genisis was like i cant belive its not butter
That was yet another example on how highly qualified experienced pilot behaves like a little kid once situation becomes unstandart. Before Pilot 2 always used to increase speed to 10 min notice right upon passing Morgan's point, and he did it no matter that particular vessel was already noticed as having poor response on the rudder, and with that UKC and overspeed she'd become completely out of control. They must all the time proceed with reduced speed having immediately effective reserve engine power in order to help with steering once needed. Wrong speed caused increased bank effect, loss of control and following crasy panic orders.
Houston ship channel is one of the most difficult in USA, Texas Chicken is being used only there. Once 10-20 min notice can be used during pilotage in some other places, it should be strictly limited in Houston channel. Myself never allowed Houston pilots to do that. By the way in that particular case time saving for remaining passage could be 5-7 min only!
Pilot???? These are boats not airplanes but thanks for your nonsense college essay
“Pilot” is the correct term. See en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot
What you say makes perfect sense. Thank you
@@JimHerbertOutdoors They were called pilots way before there were airplanes
@@JimHerbertOutdoors Basically in channels and other areas with waters that are dangerous, difficult to navigate or can quickly change conditions a ship will take on a pilot who is an individual experienced in navigating that stretch of waters, from a pilot house/station so they can guide the bridge crew through the stretch, once they're past the difficult area or are out of danger and no longer need the pilot they will return to the pilot house/station to serve the next vessel. This term has been used in this manner before lighter-than-air craft were employed in any serious manner I'd wager.
I swear I heard “You’re my sexy juice taco”
This and the lack of sleep is why I retired. Get out while you can!
I am a quick reader, but not this quick.
Honestly, I would’ve hooked up and hard over and went completely out of the channel and take my chances running aground in the flats, then hopefully avoid all collisions but then I’d have to deal with paperwork and the cost guard for a grounding but I think it’s the best choice not only for the vessels and crewman involved but also for the environment!
So Houston Traffic should allow for a controlled grounding in situations like that because that tug could’ve sank in just a few seconds had the ship hit the tug and not the tow, and being that a grounding is frowned upon, that grounding his tow didn’t even cross the captains mind.
That will buff right out
The Genesis River’s main propulsion was provided by a 17,567 horsepower (13.1 kW) engine. Damn…
There's a few out there with a single 14 cylinder engine that puts out almost 110,000 horsepower... largest most powerful diesel engine out there.. bigger than a house.
I could get that sucker up to 88mph I'll bet!!
Yaaarrgg! We be comin aboard!!
Genesis River: "fuck that barge, FULL SEND!"
Huh. And here I thought you needed some kind of license to get behind the wheel of one of these.
I don't like that the pilot attempted to throw the OS under the bus. Who ended up getting nailed for this? I'm assuming it's Pilot #2 and not the OS at the helm until just before collision.
I bave a velcro baby. She loves being around me and her father. As long as she is with one or the other shes at peace so we both this so that she can be with either or while we do housework. Only downside is that our backs feel as if they are about to break when wearing her. A funny side to the pain is her father knows somewhat of what i felt when pregnant with her.
Excellent video
Thanks
Seems like both ships could've gone full reverse engines and avoided the collision, or at least it would've likely reduced the collision speed by some amount. Just a thought by a non captain, so may be FoS. ;-)
Just how many pounds of dope gummies did that captain eat
"there is a big boat 2 km in front of us
- ok, engine 100%, make your best to crash him."
Hows this even possible, captain crunch.
He did hit the broad side of the barn...🤦♂️
Thanks so much for sharing. 😎👌🏼
Damn ripped the barge in 2. Other vessel no damage!
$400K damage done to the ship. The reports are in the video.
"WE SAWED THIS BOAT IN HALF!"
Barge. The boat broke free from the barge or it would’ve rolled over and killed the crew of 4
Didn't come to watch a video and end up reading a book instead.
[asmr] bass bossted earape collision of two ships on a river
looks like a clear game of chicken from where i sit.
The entire crew during collision: 🗿
Never mix caffeine, really heavy objects, and 'Full Speed Ahead'.
1:14 if they had both STOPPED right there, they could have avoided this. Things were out of control when the Genesis passed across the bow of the tow boat at 1:14. This fell under the "Human Factors" categories of "complacency" and "norms". They had set up the bad practice of proceeding at "sea normal" speed when they should have been at channel maneuvering speed. They normalized this behavior and became complacent about it.... and it resulted in this collision.
Why didn't the voyager stop all engines as soon as they realized they were going to colide? Not wait till the lst second and then do it...
Looks like genesis went out of its way to hit the barge
Just an ignorant land dweller here, but could increased currents emanating from the Bayport Channel have played a role in pushing the Genesis River toward the red side of the Houston Channel? I realize there's a lot of open water in between the location of the collision and the land to the west where the Bayport Channel originates, but I was just thinking there might have been more water flowing out through the Bayport Channel due to all the rain that had recently fallen. The pilot did say something in the report about increased currents.
Could only imagine the rate of turn u halve to counter steer