THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606150421
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: 180 lines
It could have been a disaster.
A barge loaded with a disabled tug sank near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in February 1995. The captain of the tug that was towing the barge failed to report the sinking for at least 12 hours.
If an oil tanker or some other ship making its way down the Elizabeth River Channel had struck the sunken tug, who knows what might have happened - an oil spill, perhaps a major one, or another sinking.
``We've had too many close calls and we don't want a disaster here in our port,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Bob Lambourne, deputy chief of the 5th Coast Guard District's port and vessel safety branch in Portsmouth. ``We've just been real lucky with the things that happen in this port.''
To improve tugboat, barge and towing safety, the Coast Guard got together with the tugboat companies in Hampton Roads and developed during the past year a voluntary vessel examination program to ensure that tugs and towboats are in compliance with all federal regulations.
The program was unveiled last month when two tugs were awarded decals signifying that they passed the inspection. The decals are good for two years and mean the tugs won't necessarily have to endure time-consuming and costly random Coast Guard boardings while underway.
``Anytime you're stopped in the Bay and boarded, it takes two to three hours, and in this business time is money,'' said Steve Furlough, vice president of C&P Tug and Barge Co., a Norfolk-based operator of six tugs.
While developed in Hampton Roads for the Coast Guard's 5th district, which stretches from New Jersey to North Carolina, the program is proving to be a model for other districts, Lambourne said.
The 1st district, which covers New York to Maine, is adopting the program at the end of June and the districts to the south and along the Gulf of Mexico are considering it.
``This is a real feather in the cap of Hampton Roads,'' Lambourne said.
Of course, Hampton Roads is one of the busiest harbors on the East Coast and tugboats are an important part of that.
Tugs move about 15 percent of the nation's freight, but account for about 2 percent of the nation's total transportation costs, according to the American Waterways Operators, the industry's Arlington-based trade group. They are more efficient than trains and far more efficient than trucks at moving goods.
There are about 150 tugs belonging to about 20 companies homeported in the region and many more pass through every week. Besides being a major port, the region's waters are an important crossroads. Any barge traffic moving via the Intracoastal Waterway or up or down the Chesapeake Bay or the James and York rivers passes through Hampton Roads.
During an 18-month period starting in 1994 there were 112 incidents involving tugs in the region, according to the Coast Guard. Most were minor - such things as a crew member breaking a toe or a controlled pivot against the leg of a bridge to help the barge make a bend in the river.
A small handful were major, including the sinking of the barge and its tug cargo in February 1995. While the voluntary inspection program may not have prevented the '95 sinking, it could help to prevent or mitigate any number of other incidents.
As a result of the '95 sinking, the Coast Guard shut down the main channel as soon as it learned of the accident. The tug and barge were found shortly thereafter outside the channel on the river bottom. They were later raised and the towing tug's captain lost his license permanently.
The Coast Guard credits the tugboat industry locally for pushing for and developing the voluntary inspection program.
``This was really their idea more than ours because of the costs of safety problems,'' Lambourne said.
The 112 incidents the Coast Guard identified in its survey cost the industry about $3.7 million in fines and repair costs.
The Coast Guard and the tug industry in Hampton Roads got together in May 1995 to develop a program to help avoid those costs and generate some enforcement uniformity.
Tug companies involved in the process included Allied Towing Corp., Union Camp Corp., Bay Towing Corp., Moran Towing of Virginia Inc., Tarmac, McAllister Towing of Virginia Inc., C&P Tug and Barge and MARITRANS Inc.
The American Waterways Operators participated in the talks and supports the program. ``We see it as a very, very positive step,'' said Linda O'Leary, vice president of the trade group's Atlantic region office.
``It's going to show a lot of our skeptics that the tugboat industry is safe and that we're doing everything we can to make it a safer industry,'' said Raymond Robbins, Bay Towing's vice president and general manager.
The Coast Guard vigorously inspects large cargo ships, tankers, tank barges and passenger vessels, but it isn't required to inspect tugboats. There are, however, numerous federal regulations pertaining to tugboats and they are subject to random boardings and inspections while underway.
The new program allows for a tugboat operator to call a Coast Guard inspector down to a dock to examine a tug. The inspection is free. The operator won't be fined if anything is found to be wrong with a tug, though the tug must be brought in to compliance to get the decal. If a severe violation is discovered, the tug won't be allowed to leave the dock until it is fixed.
The tugboat operator is given a manual that simplifies the Byzantine regulations and a checklist of items that the Coast Guard is going to look for. The list includes licensing requirements for the crew, vessel documentation, oil and garbage pollution prevention and communications, navigation, life-saving and fire fighting equipment.
Tugboats displaying the decal will be less likely to be boarded while operating, and any boardings will likely be less extensive and time-consuming.
Operators may also get a break on their insurance costs, Robbins said.
As the program is adopted by other districts it will also standardize boarding inspections. Different Coast Guard districts sometimes look for different things during boardings. In past boarding inspections the regulations haven't been uniformly enforced, said C&P Tug's Furlough.
One of C&P Tug's boats, the 68-foot Miss Janet, was one of the first two tugs to receive the decal in May. The other was Allied Towing's 116-foot tug Sea Hawk. Both companies have asked to get all their tugs inspected, Lambourne said.
Bay Towing plans to get decals for its nine tugboats, Robbins said.
``The big companies are the ones that spend the most on safety,'' Lambourne said. ``We want to get the small ones involved, the companies with just one or two boats.''
The Coast Guard has inspected about a dozen tugs since May and awarded the decals to about half of them, said Lt. Cmdr. Eric Washburn of the Coast Guard's Hampton Roads Marine Safety Office.
The inspections also could help the industry's image.
``There has been a rash of marine accidents in recent years involving the tug and barge industry that has brought attention to us,'' Furlough said. ``We're very much interested in improving our image.''
The issue of tugboat and towing safety was brought to national prominence following the deaths of 46 people when an Amtrak passenger train derailed into a bayou in Saraland, Miss., after barges being towed by a wayward tug struck a rail bridge.
``That was our Exxon Valdez,'' Robbins said.
That accident led to Congressional calls for increased federal regulation of the towing industry. While Congress failed to enact a new law, the Coast Guard has developed new rules about navigational aids and licensing of tug masters and mates to improve safety. Those rules are being finalized this summer.
Meanwhile another accident is prompting renewed calls in Congress and several state legislatures for increased regulation. A tug towing an oil-laden barge caught fire off Point Judith, Rhode Island, this winter. The crew abandoned the tug and the barge ran aground spilling more than 800,000 gallons of home heating oil in to an area popular with fishermen and beachgoers.
Tug operators hope to avoid state regulation because it's really an interstate industry. Tugs from Hampton Roads find themselves up and down the East Coast depending on customers needs. For example, a Bay Towing tug was operating this week near Brownsville, Texas. Meeting differing state regulations all along the way would be a nightmare, Robbins said.
The voluntary inspection program could mitigate some of the call for even more regulation.
``This voluntary program could take the place of costly new federal regulation, if the whole industry comes on board,'' Lambourne said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
FILE
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
A deck hand from Bay Towing waits for word to untie the tugboat
Southern Branch from a HALE container barge. Bay Towing Corp. was
one of several companies in the tug industry that got together with
the Coast Guard to come up with the voluntary inspection program.
Others included Allied Towing Corp., Union Camp Corp., Moran Towing
of Virginia Inc., Tarmac, McAllister Towing of Virginia Inc., C&P
Tug and Barge and MARITRANS Inc.
ON THE COVER: Tugboat master Don Smith watches a sailboat from the
bow of a HALE container barge in the Elizabeth River near downtown
Norfolk. His tug, the Southern Branch, is tied to the other side of
the barge. The tug operators rely on radio to keep track of what's
happening on sides of the barge that cannot be seen from the tug.
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
The 68-foot tugboat Miss Janet was one of the first two tugs to
receive the decal showing it is in compliance with safety
regulations. Tugs displaying the decal, shown in the window to the
left of Capt. Chubby Doris, are less likely to be boarded by Coast
Guard inspectors. To get the decal, a tug operator arranges an
inspection while the boat is in dock. If everything is shipshape,
the tug gets its decal.
Graphic
Color photo
FILE
RECENT ACCIDENTS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] by CNB