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The lever room of the Kent Sand & Gravel dredge in Massey, Maryland. See article on how dredge

automation can increase production. Page 20.

IN THIS ISSUE:

CONEXPO/Con-Agg dredging exhibits. Flip to our center spread.

Potential disaster in Newark Bay: Ship hits dredge; no injuries. Starting on page 9.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008

VOLUME 27, NUMBER 1

International Dredging Review

This issue focuses

on dredging safety, and

our story on this subject

has been replaced by

coverage of a more

amazing safety story –

that of the collision of a

669-foot-long ship with

the dredge New York on January 24. If there is

a hero in this story, it is the New York’s star-

board spud, which took an impact of tremen-

dous force, saving the seven-man crew from

certain disaster had the dredge capsized. The

New York is 200 feet long and is equipped with

one of Liebherr’s largest excavators – a model

996. The starboard and stern spuds of the

dredge bore the weight of the massive dredge

in addition to the force of the collision.

Because they were bent, they prevented the

New York from sinking as water poured into the

forward compartments through a large gash in

the side.

The safety point is that well-built equip-

ment is at the top of the list in the goal of an

incident and injury-free work environment.

Of equal importance is the safety mindset of

the crew. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is in the

forefront of the industry-wide safety effort,

having been the first company to sign on to the

Dredging Safety Management Program with

the Corps of Engineers, and then beginning its

own program with safety systems consultant

JMJ, who had achieved outstanding safety suc-

cess with companies in other industries known

for hazardous working conditions. (See IDR,

January/February 2007 “Great Lakes Dredge

& Dock Commits to an Injury-Free Goal.”)

On January 24, the New York crew had little

time to do anything but hang on as the Orange

Sun veered off course and hit them.

Immediately following the collision, operator

Mike Cuthbert, who was in the control cabin at

the time (and everyone who has been on the

New York knows how high and exposed that

position is), began issuing orders – to the

Lemmerhirt captain to land the scow for flota-

tion; to the crew to close hatches and otherwise

secure the dredge.

Certainly, such coolness in a terrifying situ-

ation is attributable to training and good infor-

mation on procedure in an unexpected situa-

tion, as well as good judgment and courage on

Cuthbert’s part.

Another facet of dredging and navigation

safety is the safety of the waterways them-

selves. Just before going to press with this

issue, I learned that the terminal operators at

Port Newark had commissioned two hydro-

graphic surveys of Berth 24, as a ship had gone

aground in the berth. That ship was the Orange

Sun. The first survey was done by Rogers

Surveying, as soon as the ship left the berth.

The survey crew witnessed the ship sailing

down Newark Bay

and veering into the

New York. The

second survey was

done a day later by

Bill Benson of

Hydrographic

Surveys. Results

of those surveys and investigation of the sys-

tems on the Orange Sun should help answer the

questions surrounding this accident.

Our coverage of the struggle by waterways

interests to procure funding for navigation

dredging projects is therefore also a safety

story. Project after project we describe in our

report on the Omnibus FY08 spending bill

(page 19) includes money to correct dangerous

shoaling and channel narrowing throughout the

nation’s waterway system.

Looking to the 2009 budget, waterway

organizations again state their cases that the

Administration’s Corps of Engineers budget

for navigation dredging is dangerously inade-

quate (page 6). Politically, this issue is truly bi-

partisan, as legislators from both parties in the

House and Senate, including Independents,

join in consensus that we must maintain our

waterways, for both safety and economic rea-

sons.

Judith Powers

Editor

EDITORIAL

International Dredging Review, January/February 2008 2

EVENTS, ETC.

March 11-15, 2008. Conexpo-Con/Agg and

IFPE, Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada.Construction and aggregate producers confer-ence and exhibition sponsored by theAssociation of Equipment Manufacturers(AEM), National Stone, Sand and GravelAssociation, National Ready Mixed ConcreteAssociation and the National Fluid PowerAssociation. Contact the show directors AEMat 6737 W. Washington St., Suite 2400,Milwaukee, WI 53214; phone 414-298-4141;fax: 414-272-2672; email: info@ conex-poconagg.com; [email protected]

April 2-4. “Adding Value to the Dredging

Process” – WEDA Midwest Chapter

Meeting. DoubleTree Hotel, Milwaukee,Wisconsin. Contact Matt Binsfeld, J.F. BrennanCo., Inc., 820 Bainbridge St., LaCrosse, WI54603. Phone: 608-792-5831; email: [email protected]. Hotel reservations: 414-273-2950

April 13-16, 2008. Solutions to Coastal

Disasters Conference 2008, Turtle Bay Resort,Oahu, Hawaii. Sponsored by COPRI, theCoasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute(COPRI) of ASCE. 1801 Alexander Bell Drive,Reston, Virginia 20191; phone 703-295-6300;

web site: http://content.asce.org/conferences/cd2008/index.html

May 5-8, 2008. “Bringing Land and Sea

Together” – Canadian Hydrographic Con -

ference 2008. Conference and exhibition spon-sored by the Canadian Hydrographic Society atthe Victoria Conference Centre, Victoria,British Columbia. Contact the organization at: +1 250 363 6741; fax: + 1 250 363 6841; email:[email protected]; web: http://chc2008.ca/

June 8-11. “Why We Dredge” – WEDA

XXVIII conference and exhibition, with

Texas A&M 39th Dredging Seminar, St.Louis Airport Marriott, St. Louis, Missouri.Contact Western Dredging AssociationExecutive Director Larry Patella, PO Box 5797,Vancouver, WA 98668; phone: 360-750-0209;fax: 360-750-1445; email [email protected];www.westerndredging.org

September 22-26. CARIS 2008. 12th

International User Group Conference and

Educational Sessions, Hilton Bath City Hotel,Bath, England. Contact Caris at +1-506-458-8533, fax: +1-506-459-3849. email: [email protected]

October 1-3. “Dredging Facing Sustain -

ability” – CEDA Dredging Days, ConferenceCentre ‘'t Elzenveld' Antwerp, Belgium. Callfor papers has been issued. Contact: Dr. AnnaCsiti, CEDA Secretariat, Radex Building,Rotterdamseweg 183c, 2629 HD Delft. TheNetherlands. e-mail: [email protected];www.dredgingdays.org

November. WEDA Pacific Chapter meeting.

Seattle, Washington. Dates and venue to beannounced.

November 18-19. Third International

Congress on Dredging Technology Devel op -

ment in China, Tianjin, China. Venue to beannounced. Sponsored by Eastern DredgingAssociation and China Dredging Association,Hosted by CCCC Tianjin Dredging Co., Ltd.Contact John Dobson, Chairman EADA, POBox 388, Hamilton Central, Queensland 4007,Australia. [email protected], or Capt.David Padman, EADA Secretariat, c/o PortKlang Authority, Mail Bag Service 202, 42005Port Klang, Malaysia. Fax +60 3 31670211;email: [email protected]

December. WEDA Brazil Chapter meeting,

Sao Paulo, Brazil. – In the planning stage.

DREDGINGSAFETY


The Great Lakes Dredge and Dock(GLDD) excavator dredge New York wasstruck by the tanker Orange Sun onThursday, January 24. The collisionoccurred north of Shooters Island inNewark Bay.

The New York was preparing to begindredging on the Newark Bay 50-footDeepening Project No. 4, and the tugMelvin Lemmerhirt was in the process oflanding a dump scow just before 2 p.m.The 669-foot Orange Sun had unloadedorange juice concentrate nearby and wasoutbound on its return to Florida, accom-panied by tugs, when it veered toward thedredge and moments later hit the New

York.

Lemmerhirt Captain Bobby Petersonsaw the ship coming and warneddredge operator Mike Cuthbert intime for him to alert the crew tobrace for the impact.

There were no injuries to theseven crew members on the New

York or to the 20 Orange Sun crewmembers.

The collision was captured by aCoast Guard video camera at anundisclosed location. The camerahad just panned past the dredgewhen the operator saw the shipapproaching the dredge, andpanned back to the dredge, catchingthe entire incident on film.

It shows the ship hitting thedredge amidships on the port side,causing it to heel violently on thestarboard spud. The dredge is heel-ing away from the ship at first. This is thoughtto be because of the bulbous bow under thewaterline pushing the dredge away. The ship’sbow then slides along the side of the dredge,which rights itself after the collision.

The video can be viewed on line at: http://www.uscgnewyork.com/go/doc/802/190071/

Prior to the incident, the New York’s crewwas preparing to begin dredging, and the exca-vator arm and bucket were still on deck.

Chris Gunsten, GLDD project manager,arrived from the company’s offices on StatenIsland soon after the incident, and together withthe crew began disaster response proceduresmandated by the Corps of Engineers.

New York Captain Phil Sanzone had justgone off shift, but returned to the dredge imme-diately to help coordinate the disaster response.

“Everyone conducted themselves extremelyprofessionally and acted with expedience.This is a tribute to everyone involved,”said one observer.

Following the collision, Petersonmoored the scow to the dredge, providingemergency flotation. Within the hour, asecond scow had been landed to provideadditional buoyancy.

The collision ripped a gash in thedredge and damaged the starboard andstern spuds. The 200-foot-long dredgebegan taking on water and going downbow first, but the damaged spuds held itup when the bow (excavator) end was par-tially submerged.

Divers from commercial diving com-pany Randive Inc. of New Jersey did theinitial inspection of both the New York

and the Orange Sun, allowing the Orange

Sun to move to the Southern BayRidge Anchorage.

The underwater survey of the New

York revealed a 17-foot-long crescent-shaped rupture in the hull on the portside and flooding in several forwardcompartments. During the next fewdays, Randive and Brady Marinecrews created temporary patches andcofferdams to stop the water incursionso the dredge could be re-floated. (See

story on page 12 for a detailed

description and pictures of Randive’s

salvage job.)

That evening, as workers laboredto save the dredge, shipping hadresumed in the channel, and the wakesof passing tugs were washing onto thedeck of the New York and into theopen hatches the crews were trying to

pump. The Coast Guard brought its cutterSturgeon Bay and set it up next to the dredge toblock the wakes, and also monitored the trafficwith Coast Guard response boats to ensure thesafety of all working on the dredge.

Tanker Hits Dredge New York

In Newark Channel; Dredge Hull Is Damaged;

No One Is InjuredBy Gail Blinde and Judith Powers

with input from the U.S. Coast Guard, Chris Gunsten and Bill Hanson of GLDD, and

Bill Benson of Hydrographic Surveys, who was surveying in the area the next day,

and sent us photos and information for our initial web site reporting.

An hour after the collision, two scows are moored to

the dredge to provide buoyancy. Later it was realized

that the bent spuds had stopped the dredge from sink-

ing completely.

Shots from the Coast Guard video show the New York heeling away from the Orange Sun at first, possibly pushed by the bulbous bowof the ship. The starboard and stern spuds held, but were damaged. The dredge then falls back and the ship’s pointed bow strikes itamidships on the port side. To the left is the scow being brought up by the Melvin Lemmerhirt.

The day after the collision, the dredge is stable, the base of the

excavator submerged. Please see the article on page 12

describing the initial repair operation. Shipping has resumed in

the channel – a Hanjin vessel is passing. The container cranes

of Port Elizabeth are in the background.

4 International Dredging Review, January/February 2008

Circle Reader Reply No.322

The day after the collision, DonjonMarine Co., Inc., Hillside, New Jersey,provided the heavy-lift crane bargeChesapeake 1000 and the clamshelldredge Newark Bay to assist in stabi-lizing the New York during emergencyrepairs.

Donjon welders removed the dam-aged starboard and stern spuds, whichcould not be raised.

By Saturday, February 2, thedredge had been stabilized. CoastGuard inspectors did a walk-throughand pronounced the dredge safe to sail.

Five crew members from GreatLakes Dredge and Dock accompaniedthe New York during its 13-mile transitto the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Severalother vessels assisted in the transit,including the Great Lakes Dredge andDock vessels, the McCormack Boys

and the Melvin Lemmerhirt, and thecontracted commercial tug the Launch

North Star. The Coast Guard Cutter

Ridley, an 87-foot patrol boat fromMontauk, New York, and Sector NewYork personnel were also on sceneduring the transit to ensure safety.

A unified command with represen-tatives from the Great Lakes Dredgeand Dock LLC, Coast Guard SectorNew York, New York Department ofEnvironmental Conservation (NY

DEC) New Jersey Department ofEnvironmental Protection (NJ DEP)and the vessel Orange Sun formed tomonitor the repair and recovery of thedamaged dredge after the collision onthe day of the incident.

“We’re happy to have completedthe salvage and transit operations safe-ly and we’re looking forward to expe-diting our repairs and returning theNew York to work as quickly as possi-ble,” said Chris Gunsten, contractmanager for Great Lakes Dredge andDock.

He estimated that repairs wouldtake several months. In the interim, theclamshell dredge No. 53 is working onthe contract, which at this timeinvolves soft material suitable for aclamshell.

“The entire operation, from the firstreport being received by Sector NewYork’s Vessel Traffic Center, to thecompletion of a tricky dredge transitthis morning demonstrates how suc-cessfully a unified command structurecan function when people of good willcome together to ameliorate whatcould have become an environmentalnightmare,” said Capt. RobertO’Brien, Coast Guard Captain of thePort of New York, on February 2.“This two-week-old case illustrates the

Views of the New York taken by Bill Benson on Friday,January 25. Benson was doing a hydrographic survey inthe area.


Circle Reader Reply No. 84

effectiveness of the Coast Guard’s new operational command structurewhen all its components – operations, marine safety and state-of-the-artcommunications equipment – are located in one unit. Response time,coherence and mission success are greatly enhanced.”

“Sector New York will work closely with all its port partners to learnfrom this collision and be even more effective in future maritime events,”said O’Brien.

Environmental ConcernsHydraulic fluid leaked from the New York, but no other spillage

resulted from the crash. The dredge was carrying approximately 3000gallons of hydraulic oil, 50,000 gallons of main diesel fuel and 1000 gal-lons of lubricating oil at the time of the collision.

Crews from GLDD deployed booming equipment aroundthe vessel as a precaution immediately after the incident. Asan additional precautionary measure, Ken’s Marine was con-tracted by GLDD to deploy booms around Shooter’s Island,Newark Channel, the Elizabeth Channel and Singer Flat dueto sensitive environments and wildlife in those areas.

A Coast Guard Sector New York Shoreline CleanupAssessment Team, (SCAT) conducted a survey in the vicinityof the Bayonne Bridge and Staten Island at 8 a.m. the morn-ing after the collision and reported minimal sheen in thewater.

There were no reports of impact to the waterfowl, fish oraquatic vegetation in the vicinity of the collision as a result ofthe incident.

Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod and Atlantic City heli-copter crews conducted over-flights of the collision siteimmediately after the collision Thursday and at 10 a.m.Friday. Both over-flights reported a light sheen coming fromthe dredge as well as in the vicinity of Shooters Island, PortNewark and Port Elizabeth. A second layer of booming equip-

ment was deployed by Ken’s Marine around the dredge as a result of theover-flights.

The Liberian flagged vessel Orange Sun, owned by Arctic Reeferrporation in Monrovia, Liberia, and operated by Atlanship Switzerland,was outbound at the time of the incident. After the collision, the vesselwas escorted to the Southern Bay Ridge Anchorage in New York Harbor.A Captain of the Port Order was issued for the vessel requiring a specifiedclassification society to verify that the vessel is fit for route and service aswell as to provide a dive survey assessing any damage that might havebeen done to the vessel. The Orange Sun has since left the Southern BayRidge Anchorage to continue its outbound voyage to Florida. The speci-fied classification society verified that it was fit for route and service. Thevessel entered a dry dock in Florida where repairs are being made.



Randive Performs Emergency Repairs onNew York after Collission

On Thursday, January 24th, Randive, Inc. received an urgent phone call fromGreat Lakes Dredge & Dock requesting immediate dispatch of dive teams to thedredge New York. At 1:50 p.m., the 669-foot outbound motor vessel Orange Sun

had struck the dredge in Newark Bay as it was beginning work on the NewarkBay 50-foot DeepeningProject #4. Within 45minutes of the initialcall, a six-man dive teamwas on site.

Randive is headquar-tered in Perth Amboy,New Jersey.

The dredge was beingheld up by its threespuds, but in the floodtide, the water level wasincreasing inside thedredge.

The dive team wasrequested to penetrateinto a flooded storageroom to begin an internalassessment, and theywere able to pump waterfrom that area, returningsome buoyancy to thedredge. After pumpingdown the storage area,the team ascertained that

Friday morning: The bow of the dredge is under water, oil booms

are in place and the dredge is partially stabilized. GLDD photo.

The Randive and Great Lakes D&D crews worked through the

night to remove the huge tires and chains from the damaged area.

The deck is six feet under water in this picture. GLDD photo.

Leaders of the team of more than 20 people

who worked on the emergency repair are from

left, Dan Muirhead, Jr., Santos Manuel and

Antonio Carmo – welding supervisors from

Brady Marine, and Keith Michalski and Robert

Ross - diving supervisors from Randive. In the

background is the stabilized New York. Randive

photo.



the damage was isolated to the winch room, aftof the excavator. Upon returning some stabilityto the vessel, Randive’s next task was to deter-mine the location and extent of damage.

An inspection diver on the outside of thedredge found a 17-foot by two-foot tear on theport side, at approximately frame 38, in way ofthe winch room. The damaged area was behindlarge tire fenders.

Working throughout the night with under-water burning equipment, the dive team anddredge crew were able to remove the tire fend-ers – excavator tires six to eight feet in diame-ter – and other obstructions. This revealed thelong, crescent-shaped tear where the ship hadhit the dredge.

The next morning, Friday, after receivingapproval from the owners, Randive beganextensive in-water repairs on the damaged hull,which took approximately eight hours. By 3p.m. the damage was sealed off and pumpingoperations began. Within four hours the dredgehad regained buoyancy and was floating.

In drydock: the 17-foot-long crescent-shaped gash was revealed after

the cofferdam was removed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Randive

crew performed the emergency repair underwater before the water could

be pumped out of the dredge. Randive photo.

The cofferdam Randive installed over the gash is visible above

the waterline, and a pump is in place removing water from the

flooded compartment. Bouyancy was restored by Friday

evening, the day after the collision, allowing the repair crew to

enter the dredge to assess internal damage. Randive photo.



The next phase was to perform an internal

inspection of the damage. The team decided tofabricate an internal cofferdam to isolate thearea surrounding the damaged hull. Workingwith Brady Marine Repair Co., Inc. ofElizabeth, New Jersey, Randive spent Saturdayassembling materials for an internal weldedcofferdam – a total of about three tons of steel.By the evening of Saturday, January 26th, theRandive dive teams and Brady welders beganworking around the clock, and had completedthe cofferdam by the morning of Monday,January 28th.

Other repairs took the rest of the week, andthe dredge was towed to drydock at theBrooklyn Navy Yard, a distance of 13 miles -on Saturday, February 2.

Randive was also retained to make aninspection of the hull of the Orange Sun, whichthen continued to Florida for repairs.

All work was performed to the highest ofsafety standards and to the approval of the U.S.Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers.

The successful completion of the hullrepairs was a culmination of the unwaveringcooperation between Randive, Great LakesDredge & Dock, Brady Marine, the Corps ofEngineers and the United States Coast Guard.

The internal welded cofferdam

com prises three tons of steel, and

took Randive and Brady crews 36

hours to complete. The cofferdam

isolated compartments of the

dredge affected by the damage.

Randive photo.

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