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NTSB Marine Accident Brief about allision on Oct 17, 2020, published

The company’s decision to change the masters of the 'Atina' without a handover period led to a $72.9 million marine accident off the coast of Louisiana, according to a National Transportation Safety Board Marine Accident Brief issued on Nov 22, 2021. The Marine Accident Brief 21/24 details the NTSB’s investigation of the accident which took place on Oct 17, 2020, in which the 'Atina' struck the oil and gas production platform SP-57B near Pilottown, Louisiana. The tanker with a crew of 21 o board was attempting to anchor in the Southwest Pass Fairway Anchorage in the Gulf of Mexico when it struck the platform SP-57B. The platform’s four crew members and one technician evacuated to a nearby platform by helicopter after activating the emergency shutdown device to shut in wells to the SP-57B platform. No pollution or injuries were reported. Estimated damages to the platform ($72.3 million) and ship ($598,400) totaled $72.9 million. The NTSB says the company did not comply with its own safety management system (SMS) in the lead up to the accident. The master at the time of the accident boarded the underway vessel outbound to the anchorage, only seeing the departing master on the tanker’s deck. The company placed the accident master into critical vessel evolutions, such as navigating downriver and anchoring at night, without any overlap with the departing master. The company’s SMS required a minimum one-day turnover between senior personnel aboard a company vessel if the oncoming senior person worked for the company, and seven days if the senior person was new to the company. According to the report, the accident master told investigators he wanted to anchor the ship as soon as possible because he was tired. The accident master traveled from Turkey to join the vessel and told investigators he had no sleep for over 50 hours while traveling. The location he chose did not follow the passage plan anchoring location. According to the 'Atina’s passage plan, the tanker’s intended anchorage was about 3.2 miles northeast of SP-57B. The actual anchoring location was about .7 miles from the platform SP-57B. Investigators determined the probable cause of the contact of the tanker with the oil and gas production platform was the Atina’s operating company not ensuring sufficient time for the master’s turnover, which resulted in the master’s acute fatigue and poor situation awareness during an attempted nighttime anchoring evolution. Full report: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAB2124.pdf

Tanker allided with oil platform

The offshore drilling company Cox Operating LLC, USA, sued the Turkish manager of the 'Atina' for an alleged contact with COX’s oil platform, which took place on Oct 17, 2020. COX was claiming a $225 million compensation for serious damages at the platform, and for operational losses, because the platform was inoperative after the accident, and the personnel was evacuated. The accident happened shortly after tanker had passed the East Pilot Station in the Mississippi Delta, and was anchored in Gulf of Mexico. She drifted while at anchor and hit a corner of the platform. She was anchored again nearby before moving to Galveston Anchorage where she moored in pos. 28° 43.72' N 093° 57.11' W and was detained after the Court’s rule. The tanker had left Baton Rouge on Oct 16.

Disabled tanker towed to Elefsis

The "Atina" suffered an engine failure in the central Aegean Sea, in position 36 39.0 N, 26 36.5 E, on Nov 12, 2018. Two tugs took the ship in tow to the southern entrance of the Canakkale Strait. Subsequently, the vessel was towed from south of Canakkale to Elefsis where it arrived on Nov 29 at 10.45 a.m. It left the port again on Jan 8 at 3.45 p.m. She moored in pos. 37° 21.74' N 023° 48.83' E and remained stationary at the anchorage by Jan 14.