A brand new passenger ferry’s engine design and inadequate coaching for engineering crew members resulted in a fireplace aboard a Staten Island Ferry in 2022, the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) reported on Tuesday.
On December 22, 2022, a fireplace erupted within the engine room of the Sandy Floor passenger ferry whereas it was navigating New York Harbor with 884 folks on board. The crew’s efforts to include and extinguish the hearth, together with the immediate response from good samaritan vessels, ensured the protected evacuation of all passengers. The incident prompted $12.7 million in injury to the vessel.
Following its investigation, the NTSB issued a security alert and 5 security suggestions, together with proposed regulatory adjustments to design necessities for diesel engine gas oil return techniques.
In accordance with the NTSB, the hearth was triggered when oilers on the Sandy Floor closed each day tank gas oil return isolation ball valves whereas managing gas oil ranges, inflicting the gas oil system to overpressurize. This over-pressurization led to the rupture of gas oil filters on the primary engines, leading to a twig of gas oil that ignited. A delay in shutting down the primary engines exacerbated the hearth.
The Sandy Floor, the second of three Ollis-class ferries constructed by Jap Shipbuilding Group for the New York Metropolis Division of Transportation, had been in service for simply six months earlier than the hearth. The ferries weren’t initially geared up with gas oil return isolation valves; these have been added post-delivery to manage day tank gas oil ranges. Nonetheless, the vessels lacked a mechanism to alleviate stress within the gas oil return traces if each valves have been closed, resulting in the overpressurization.
In response, the NTSB beneficial that the Coast Guard replace marine engineering regulatory necessities to make sure diesel engine gas oil return techniques on U.S.-flagged vessels are designed to permit unimpeded return movement or embody a stress reduction valve. The NTSB additionally urged the Coast Guard to develop interim design steering to stop overpressurization.
The American Bureau of Delivery was equally suggested to suggest these design necessities to the Worldwide Affiliation of Classification Societies.
The investigation additionally revealed that engineering crew members have been inadequately skilled on the brand new Ollis-class ferries’ gas techniques. They didn’t obtain follow-on coaching after the set up of the gas oil return isolation ball valves on the Sandy Floor. In contrast to different Staten Island ferries, the brand new vessels lacked reduction valves of their gas oil return techniques. Consequently, the crew believed that the gas oil system couldn’t be overpressurized.
Highlighting the significance of understanding diesel engine gas oil system return design and operation, the NTSB issued a security alert to vessel operators. The NTSB famous that this was the second hearth in two years investigated by the company the place closed valves led to overpressurization and subsequent fires. The primary incident was a 2021 engine room hearth on a towing vessel on the Mississippi River in Missouri.
Learn the studies: Marine Investigation Report 24-17 and Security Alert 94.
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