Summary
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the Carnival Pride’s allision, with the pier and elevated passenger walkway, was the staff captain’s error during the docking maneuver―approaching the pier with excessive speed and at a steep angle―and the captain’s insufficient oversight during the maneuver.
The pier heading at the Cruise Maryland Terminal was 284 degrees, yet, when the bow of the Carnival Pride was about half a ship’s length away from the dock, the vessel was on a heading of 307 degrees at a speed of 5.3 knots. At about that time, the vessel’s voyage data recorder (VDR) recorded the pilot cautioning him, “You need to slow down.”
The staff captain realized that the angle of approach was too steep and the speed was too fast. In order to gain more thrust as well as control the vessel’s rate of closure inline with the dock, he attempted to transfer from joystick to manual control at the bridge wing console. This action was intended to provide more direct control of the vessel’s propulsion in order to maneuver away from the dock.
Despite repeated attempts, the staff captain’s efforts to transfer control to the manual levers were unsuccessful. As the distance to the dock continued to decrease, the captain took the conn from the staff captain and shifted engine and helm control back to the center console. Once the control returned to the center console, the captain regained full control of the azipods and the thrusters. He then applied the full thrust away from the berth and slowed the ship’s forward progress, but not before the bulbous bow struck the fendering and under-pier support columns. As the vessel continued moving forward, the elevated passenger walkway was first struck by the Carnival Pride’s flared bow. The walkway was then struck by the ship’s starboard-side retractable observation and mooring platform, deployed and rigged to assist in the mooring operation, which caused the walkway to collapse on top of three port department vehicles parked on the pier.
Damage
The elevated passenger walkway destroyed is estimated cost of $2 million. Repair or replacement of the three vehicles damaged when the walkway collapsed onto them totaled $75,000. The retractable observation and mooring platform on the forward starboard side of the Carnival Pride absorbed the majority of the impact with the walkway and was bent out of shape, hanging at the ship’s side. Additional damage to the vessel were scraping and minor indentation to the side shell plating at the flare of the bow approximately 15 feet below the gunwale. Repairs to the Carnival Pride were estimated at $10,000.
Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the Carnival Pride’s allision with the pier and elevated passenger walkway was the staff captain’s errors during the docking maneuver―approaching the pier with excessive speed and at a steep angle―and the captain’s insufficient oversight during the maneuver.
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Source & Image Credit: NTSB
