Miscommunication and an out-of-date navigational chart were both found to be factors when a Royal Caribbean cruise ship slammed into the dock at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal last summer. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a 14-page report on the incident late last month.
On the morning of May 9, 2022, the Radiance of the Seas was pulling into port in Sitka, when it struck a mooring dolphin. While no injuries were reported in the accident, damage to the pier was estimated at over $2 million dollars, and that part of the dock unusable for the first half of the summer season while awaiting repair.
The 14-page NTSB report details communication between the master, pilots, and the bosun of the ship leading up to the accident. It found that the bridge team had relied heavily on electronic navigational charts to dock the vessel, which included incorrect information about the dock’s length.
The Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal dock was extended by nearly 400 feet in 2021. The NTSB found that the new length had not been reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led to the navigational chart being out-of-date, and may have been a contributing factor to the accident.
The NTSB also found the master of the ship misunderstood directions and information about the boat’s distance from the pier being called out by a crewmember while the vessel was rotating.
Weather was good and conditions were clear with 10 mile visibility as the ship was approaching the pier, and the report found that the bridge team should have seen the dock extension and maneuvered the boat accordingly. They also had radar technology and cameras available to assist with their approach, but instead, relied too heavily on their electronic charts to determine the vessel’s relative position to the pier.
You can read the full NTSB report here
