Panama Canal Tugboat Captains Face Disciplinary Action After Raising Safety Concerns in New Neopanamax Locks – gCaptain
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The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is not providing proper staffing and equipment for new larger locks, putting workers and safe shipping at risk, according to tug captains who escort NeoPanamax containerships and LNG carriers through the recently-expanded Panama Canal.
Rather than address safety issues that the tugboat captains and others say contributed to recent accidents, the ACP has now begun disciplinary proceedings for 22 Panama Canal tugboat captains who raised questions about short-staffing and crew fatigue.
Last month, the ACP announced sanctions against certain tugboat captains who they say were responsible for a brief work stoppage earlier in April that interrupted the transit of vessels.
The tugboat captains, who are members of the Union de Capitanes y Oficiales de Cubierta (UCOC), raised their safety concerns following a recent decision by the ACP to reduce crew size of the tugboats from three deckhands down to two while transiting the new locks. Tug captains and other crewmembers also have questioned the wisdom of daily shifts that regularly exceed 12-14 hours.
Unlike the Canal’s original locks that relied primarily on locomotives or “mules” moving alongside the locks to guide vessels, the new Neopanamax locks require the use two tugs.
“This is a very complex operation, shoehorning large ships into a small space with little margin,” said Captain Don Marcus, President of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots. “This was dangerous work before ACP lowered standards. Long hours combined with fewer crewmembers, using underpowered tugs, is making a bad situation worse,” he added. The UCOC is an affiliate of the U.S.-based International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots.
In April 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tampa collided with the tugboat Cerro Santiago during transit through the Panama Canal. Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that overwork and fatigue were significant contributors to the incident.
In November 2017, Osvaldo de la Espada, a veteran canal worker with 24 years experience maneuvering ships through the locks, died from head injuries during a line-handling incident at the Agua Clara locks.