Admittedly, I know nothing about ships, a little about river barges, quite a bit about inland fishing boats, But,I still have trouble understanding why the tow boats are not required all of the way to the ocean, with a ship that size. miles
And this my friends is the key to the whole mess...the shipowners have fought this forever, it's all about the money...within seconds the pilots could have had 12,000 hp guiding the disabled hulk through the bridge footings.
Many are going to learn that it's the companies with cargo on the ship that crashed into the bridge that will pay the damages, not the ship owner or ship operator. That's because of ancient maritime law (older than the US constitution) called "General Average" designed to prevent sailors from fighting over which cargo to toss overboard, and instead to focus on saving the ship. Per Ryan Peterson.
Actually - speaking with more people - to clarify, damages to the vessel and cargo are covered under “general average”—paid by the cargo owners and their insurance companies. The bridge and other external damages will be covered by the property insurance of the ship operator.
If it is an accident, does any blame or penalties fall on the captain?
The senior pilot is the captain during the period they are contracted for, it is very respectful, but 99 times out of 100, the ships captain keeps his mouth shut..and is often not much more than a translator when languages are a problem. I got one side of the story once working on a docking assist at Bremerton/Kitsap Naval Base, a Navy Captain countermanded the order of the pilot...the skipper on the tug I was on balked at the order of the naval captain...the pilot told my skipper he had been relieved and please enter that with the correct time in the tug's log. Very tense but polite..no voices raised on the radio. Normally the navy has their own tugs. The navy ship damaged about 60 ft of pier and a small forest of piling with some hull damage to her stern. I don't know who ended up paying, but we never docked another naval vessel while I was there. The pilot continued to dock tankers and containerships successfully for another 12 years until he retired. I suspect my company didn't think the little bit of navy work was worth the hassle.
Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
