Cosco Busan NTBS Report - Master / Pilot Exchange

Cosco Busan, anchored after striking the Oakland Bay Bridge

Back in February Bob Couttie posted NTSB on Cosco Busan: Unfit, Ineffective, Incompetent.

In its determination of probable cause, the Safety Board cited three factors: 1) the pilot’s degraded cognitive performance due to his use of impairing prescription medications; 2) the lack of a comprehensive pre-departure master/pilot exchange and a lack of effective communication
between the pilot and the master during the short voyage; and 3) the master’s ineffective oversight of the pilot’s performance and the vessel’s progress.

Bob updated in May when the NTSB released it final report with Communication, Cosco Busan And Sex With A Duck

>Pilot: [unintelligible] you said this was the center of the bridge.
Master: Yes.
Pilot: No, this is the center. That’s the tower. This is the tower. That’s why we hit it. I thought that was the center.
Master: It’s a buoy. [unintelligible] the chart.
Pilot: Yeah, see. No, this is the tower. I asked you if that was [unintelligible]. . .

Basically the finding are that the pilot was impaired and that the master failed to properly monitor the vessel progress, In other words the pilot conned the ship into the bridge tower while the master and bridge crew stood by and did nothing.


The degree to which the pilot is willing to cooperate with the master varies a great deal. In Japanese ports, for example, the pilots come aboard with a form which includes the intended track of the vessel including the approach, in other ports, some pilots view the master's questions as a nuisance. In the U.S. it could go either way depending upon the port and the individual pilot.

Update: This is what I'm talking about.

From the Site The Pilot Boat example of what I would consider an excellent passage plan.
K.C.