ROYAL ENGINEER

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Latest news

NTSB-report: Mate was unaware of ship-to-shore crane ahead of allision

The mast of the crane barge 'Stevens 1471' hit a North Charleston Terminal ship-to-shore crane on Jan 4, 2024, while this was conducting cargo operations in North Charleston, South Carolina, the US National Transportation Safety Board said on March 26, 2025. The contact resulted in over $4.5 million in damage to the ship-to-shore crane. The 'Royal Engineer' was transiting the Cooper River while pushing the crane barge, and was maneuvering through a narrow area between the docked container ship 'Celsius Nicosia' and a dredgier. The dredger’s floating discharge pipeline was blocking the rest of the channel. The mate of the 'Royal Engineer' was aware of the dredging operations along the tow’s transit route and had transited the area the day before. The mate told investigators that, on the day of the accident, he attempted twice to contact the dredge crew early to make passing arrangements, but was not able to establish communications until about 15 minutes before the 'Royal Engineer' reached the dredging area. His original intention was to request that the dredge break the pipeline so the tow could pass to the east of the dredge. However, the dredge captain’s preference was for the tow to pass to the west of the dredge. The two agreed the tow would proceed through the narrow area between the dredge and the containership. While completing the passing arrangements, the mate of the 'Royal Engineer' did not realize the ship-to-shore crane extended over the side of the container ship and impeded the tow’s route. Had the mate been aware of the ship-to-shore crane boom extending beyond the container ship when he was determining passing arrangements, he likely would have realized the crane was a potential overhead hazard and made a plan to avoid it. Reports with photos and graphic: https://maritime-executive.com/article/ntsb-crane-barge-hit-an-sts-crane-because-mate-didn-t-perceive-hazard https://www.bairdmaritime.com/security/incidents/accidents/ntsb-determines-cause-of-45m-terminal-cargo-crane-damage-in-south-carolina

Tug refloated grounded ferry

On Mar 15, 2015, the "Royal Engineer" refloated the ferry "Silver Lake" of the North Carolina Department of Transportation which had lost steering power and ran aground about a mile south of Ocracoke on Mar 14, after it drifted into shallow water and got stuck. A 47-ft-life boat crew from the Hatteras Inlet Coast Guard Station got the 14 passengers off the ferry. They were taken to the Ocracoke South Ferry Terminal. Mechanics and the crew remained on board the ferry to wait for the arrival of the tug, which took the ship back to Ocracoke. On Mar 16 she towed the "Silver Lake" to the state shipyard for repairs.