#USCG investigators find that the pilot of the Ever Forward was distracted while talking on his cell phone and the ship's captain left the bridge to eat dinner when the massive ship ran aground on the Chesapeake Bay in April.
https://twitter.com/gCaptain/status/1600343301504131074
The investigation reveals the pilot was relying solely on his Portable Pilot Unit - a portable GPS mapping solution pilots carry - to navigate & made multiple phone calls & texts before grounding.
This is a problem because crew members often can not view the information on personal charting solutions and must rely on the ships' electronic charts which show a different presentation of information.
The Captain of Ever Forward was not on the bridge at the time of the grounding as he had departed to get dinner.
This is unusual. Typically the ship's cook will send food up to the bridge for the Captain so he can eat while keeping an eye on the Pilot.
This is unusual. Typically the ship's cook will send food up to the bridge for the Captain so he can eat while keeping an eye on the Pilot.
The Third Officer on the bridge stated Pilot was still looking at his phone when the vessel's heading was announced at 161 degrees & speed 13 knots.
The Third Officer is the most junior deck officer aboard a ship and often lacks the experience and confidence needed to confront a pilot.
Typically if a Captain does need to leave the bridge during pilotage he will ask a more senior officer to help the Third Mate and Pilot on the bridge.
US Coast Guard determined the incident's causal factors to be the pilot's failure to maintain situational awareness & inadequate bridge resource management.
The Ever Forward was refloated on April 17 with the help of two anchor barges, five large tugboats, and a full moon! #Maritime #Safety gcaptain.com/salvage-team-f…
Over 200,000 cubic yards of material were dredged from around the Ever Forward and 505 containers were removed.
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