The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released the results of its investigation into the collision between the Carnival Pride and the pier at Cruise Maryland Terminal in Baltimore on May 8, 2016.
According to the NTSB report, too much speed and too steep an angle of approach resulted in the accident, which caused more than $2 million in property damage.
No fatalities, injuries or damage to the environment were reported in connection with the Carnival Pride’s collision with the pier at Cruise Maryland Terminal, South Locust Point, Baltimore Harbor, Maryland, the NTSB said. Property damage resulting from the collision was estimated at more than $2 million and involved the destruction of an elevated passenger walkway, damage to three vehicles on the pier, and damage to the Carnival Pride’s hull and observation and mooring platform.
The Carnival Pride’s staff captain (second in command) had the conn of the vessel and allowed the vessel to approach the pier too fast and at an angle too steep, the NTSB said. The staff captain, upon recognizing the situation, attempted to shift to manual controls but was unable to assume manual control at the bridge wing station. A Maryland pilot was aboard the vessel but had transferred conn of the cruise ship to the ship’s staff captain for the final approach and docking per the agreement between the Association of Maryland Pilots and passenger vessels berthing at the cruise ship terminal.
The pilot stated that on the day of the accident the vessel was approaching faster than normal. Statements from the Carnival Pride’s bridge team confirmed the pilot’s assessment that the speed was faster than normal during the approach.
The staff captain allowed the vessel to approach the pier too fast and at an angle too steep because he misjudged the power available in the joystick mode for correcting the maneuver. In the seconds it took him to assess that the joystick control would not be enough, in his opinion, to slow the ship, he lost valuable time in shifting to manual control. In his haste to shift control, he was unable to assume manual control at the bridge wing station, an event the staff captain could not explain. The vessel’s operating company was not able to replicate the failed transfer of control from the joystick mode to the manual mode during testing on subsequent voyages. Thus, the company has been unable to determine a cause other than possible human error.
The elevated passenger embarkation walkway, which connected to the vessel’s sideports when embarking and debarking passengers, was retractable and could also be swung away from the side of the pier when not in use. Yet on the morning of the accident, the walkway was extended nearly to the water’s edge. If the walkway had been in a position that the flare of the vessel’s bow and the observation and mooring platform could not make contact, damage to the walkway would not have occurred.
The National Transportation Safety Board said that the probable cause of the Carnival Pride’s collision with the pier and elevated passenger embarkation walkway was the staff captain’s errors during the docking maneuver―approaching the pier with excessive speed and at too steep of an angle―and the captain’s insufficient oversight during the maneuver.
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