A towing vessel grounded last year after the captain maneuvered too close to a bank of the Ohio River, outside the charted 9’ depth contour line and too close to submerged jetties, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
The 136’ Tom Frazier was pushing 15 empty hopper barges upbound near Portsmouth, Ohio, on Feb. 10, 2024, when the vessel grounded, damaging the vessel’s hull plating, framing and bulkheads and flooding several spaces. The nine-person crew was safely evacuated to shore. An estimated five gallons of oil were released and the vessel sustained damage estimated at more than $250,000.
As the Tom Frazier tow approached the U.S. Grant Bridge around 6:40 p.m., the captain made passing arrangements with another tow, the downbound 113.3 Debi Sharp pushing 25 barges.
“The Tom Frazier’s captain maneuvered the tow to port, toward the right descending bank, to facilitate the passing,” according to a narrative in the NTSB report. “The maneuver was outside the charted 9-foot-depth contour line and too close to two stone jetties, which were submerged at the time. The jetties were charted on the electronic navigation chart and visible on the vessel’s electronic charting system, but the captain did not identify the hazard.”
At about 6:55 p.m. the Tom Frazier grounded on the jetties, extending about 55’ out from the right descending bank, about 0.5 miles upriver from the bridge. The vessel began listing to starboard, and as the engine room flooded the captain notified Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley via VHF radio, that they were taking on water and had nine people aboard.
In turn the Coast Guard notified Greenup County, Ky., officials, who launched the Southshore, Lloyd, and Portsmouth fire departments, among other local first responders, who with people ashore and crews from nearby boats evacuated the crew to shore. The Tom Frazier tow was transferred to the towing vessel Marty B, which towed the empty barges to a dock in Greenup.
The Tom Frazier captain told investigators “he had worked in the industry for 23 years and
with the operating company for three years,” according to the NTSB report. “He stated that he had frequented the area many times in his career but not in the previous two or three years.”
The NTSB concluded the grounding cause “was the captain maneuvering his tow too close to the bank in order to avoid a downbound tow, and not identifying the hazard posed by the charted jetties”.
