River Pilot relied on own judgment rather than ship navigational equipment- BoI Report

Oct 26, 2022 News

Harbour bridge accident…

Kaieteur News – The Board of Inquiry (BoI) that investigated the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) accident has found that the Private River Pilot, Kenneth Cort, 66, had relied on his own judgment rather the oil tanker’s navigation equipment.

Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill

Cort was the man contracted to transit the Panamanian-flagged vessel, MV Tradewinds Passion, through the DHB on October 8, 2022. The oil tanker, loaded with fuel for the Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL), crashed into the bridge close to 02:00hrs that day. A DHB staffer, Andy Duke was left with a broken leg and the bridge was left inoperable for almost 72 hours. Some $1B was reportedly spent to repair the damage and make the bridge operable again.

A BoI was set up by the Ministry of Public Works to investigate the accident and on Tuesday its report was released to the media. According to the report, the BoI found that Cort, the contracted River Pilot disregarded all of the tanker’s navigational equipment and used his own judgment. “The Board of Inquiry concludes that the Pilot and Bridge Team (part of the crew board that is tasked in assisting the Pilot to safely transit through the bridge) failed to effectively utilise all navigation tools, such as the electronic charting system, and radar as they approached the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB)”, the report stated.

According to the BoI, based on their investigation, nothing was wrong with the oil tanker’s navigation tools. They were all up to date and in perfect working order and could have been used to guide the pilot in using the correct channel to transit safely through the bridge. However, interviews done with all parties onboard suggest that these tools were not used. The vessel’s bridge team trusted the Pilot’s judgment and did not question his decision, breaching one of the protocols.

Private River Pilot, Kenneth Cort.

With this being established the BoI gave three probable causes for the disastrous incident. These are: “(1) The Bridge Team’s exclusive reliance on the contract Pilot’s incorrect navigational direction, (2) the Bride Team’s total reliance on looking at the Harbour Bridge and disregarding the alarms and electronic equipment on the vessel as the vessel approached the bridge, and (3) failure to use all available navigation tools to verify the safety of the vessel’s course”

As a result of the findings the BoI has since recommended that the Private River Pilot, Cort be suspended from operating any ship for two years and before his reinstatement he must be thoroughly assessed by the relevant authorities. During a Press Conference held hours after the accident, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill had related that Duke, the injured DHB staffer, had observed that the vessel was not in alignment with the channel to pass through the bridge properly and therefore made attempts to avoid the disaster by contacting its Pilot via radio.

He reportedly called on them to stop and turn around the oil tanker but it kept coming, and at the last moment, Duke decided to jump for safety but ended up breaking his leg.

Junior Minister within the Ministry, Deodat Indar, who also spoke at the Press Conference, had made a suggestion, to avoid a future accident. That suggestion was to make changes to the system of vessels moving through the Demerara River. One of those changes, he noted, will be to bar Private River Pilots from bringing in vessels and only allow the ones working with Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) to do so. That change has since been made by the relevant authorities and now only MARAD pilots will be allowed to bring in vessels. Currently, MARAD has 15 River Pilots within its employ while there are five Private Pilots, including Cort.

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Caption: The Demerara Harbour Bridge

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