Georgia Ports Authority v. L/S BILDERDYK

• Decision Date: 15 October 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 3203.
• Citation: 402 F. Supp. 706
• Parties: GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY, Plaintiff, v. L/S BILDERDYK, her engine, tackle, etc., Hapag-Lloyd Ag and Holland America Line, d/b/a Combi Line, owners of the L/S BILDERDYK, Atlantic Towing Company, a corporation, owners and operators of the TUG LAWTON M. CALHOUN and the TUG SAVANNAH, their engines, tackles, etc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia

402 F. Supp. 706

GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY, Plaintiff, v. L/S BILDERDYK, her engine, tackle, etc., Hapag-Lloyd Ag and Holland America Line, d/b/a Combi Line, owners of the L/S BILDERDYK, Atlantic Towing Company, a corporation, owners and operators of the TUG LAWTON M. CALHOUN and the TUG SAVANNAH, their engines, tackles, etc., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 3203.

United States District Court, S. D. Georgia, Savannah Division.

October 15, 1975.

Fred S. Clark, Lee & Clark, Savannah, Ga., for plaintiff.

Ralph O. Bowden, III, Hunter, Houlihan, Maclean, Exley, Dunn & Connerat, Savannah, Ga., for the Bilderdyk and Owners.

Julian C. Sipple, Savannah, Ga., for Atlantic Towing Co.

OPINION AND ORDER

LAWRENCE, Chief Judge.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

This suit in admiralty is brought by Georgia Ports Authority to recover damages to its LASH mooring facility located near the mouth of the Savannah River as a result of alleged negligence in the docking of the vessel "Bilderdyk" on May 27, 1973.¹

Plaintiff claims that the collision (allision is the technical term) caused damage to a dolphin amounting to $121,970. There are cross-claims between the defendant COMBI LINE (a trade combination that operated the "Bilderdyk") and Atlantic Towing Company which owns the tugs "Savannah" and "Lawton M. Calhoun". They assisted the vessel in mooring.

The case was tried before this Court without a jury on July 10-11 and 14, 1975.

The evidence must be viewed in the light of the rule of presumptive fault when a moving vessel strikes a fixed object. A prima facie case of negligence by the ship is created as the result of such a collision and the burden of disproof is cast on the vessel.² To overcome the presumption, the vessel in motion must show that she was without fault or that the collision was occasioned by the stationary object or that it was the result of an inevitable accident.³

The LASH facility was completed in 1972 and is located on the north side of the channel of the Savannah River on Oyster Bed Island.⁴ Its relation to the mouth of the River and to the surrounding area is shown in the drawing below.

The facility consists of a breasting area where the mother ship docks and a fleeting area in which barges are moored after being unloaded or before being reloaded on the LASH vessel. Four breasting dolphins constitute the docking part of the facility. Four mooring dolphins extend laterally and diagonally from the dredged basin east and west of the breasting dolphins.

Each dolphin has a concrete cap approximately 12'4" wide, 39 feet long and 5' thick, supported by 24 eighteen-inch square prestressed concrete piles with 8 vertical piles and 16 batter piles. The distance from the downstream end of breasting dolphin No. 1 to the upstream end of No. 4 is approximately 340 feet.

Protecting each breasting dolphin is a wooden fendering system with seven creosoted piles to which are bolted horizontal steel beam wales. Enclosed in a notched recess in the concrete pile caps of the dolphins is a rubber, doughnutshaped roll 12" in diameter and 39' long. The fender system is so designed that when a vessel makes contact with the fender piles the wale presses against the rubber cylindrical cushion so as to transmit to same the force of the vessel's motion. The LASH facility on Oyster Bed Island is illustrated below.

The facility was designed to receive vessels up to 81,000 tons. The primary design criteria are the velocity and angle of approach of a ship. The facility is designed for LASH vessels approaching at a maximum velocity of 0.2 foot per second within an angle of 10° or less to the face of the dolphins. Within these design standards, no damage should theoretically result to the dock.

Oceangoing vessels calling at Savannah are met at the sea buoy off Tybee Island by a pilot boat and bar pilot. At noon on May 27, 1973, Captain Harry Padgett, Jr. boarded the "Bilderdyk" which had been held at sea awaiting the flood tide. Under Padgett's direction, the vessel proceeded into the Savannah River. James R. Strickland who is employed by Atlantic Towing Company as a docking master boarded the "Bilderdyk" along with Captain Padgett.

The distance between the downstream and upstream breasting dolphins (Nos. 1 and 4) is 340 feet. The overall length of the "Bilderdyk" is approximately 857 feet. She has a draft of 37 feet and a gross displacement of about 37,600 tons. With the cargo aboard, the total weight of the vessel was estimated at 58,000 tons. As noted above, the facility on Oyster Bed Island is designed to receive vessels of 81,000 tons at a velocity of 0.2 feet per second (12 feet per minute and .136 miles per hour) with an approach angle up to 10°.

After the "Bilderdyk" left the sea buoy area, the tugs "Calhoun" and "Savannah" came alongside her about one mile from the LASH facility. They made fast to the port side of the ship bow and stern. At 1345 the docking maneuvers began when the "Bilderdyk" was opposite the mooring facility. Meanwhile, Docking Master Strickland had taken over from the bar pilot. The tugs began to assist the movement of the vessel toward the mooring facility. It was the twentieth docking of the "Bilderdyk" after inauguration of LASH service at Savannah in 1972.⁵

The docking procedures are dictated by the design of the facility. The dredged area adjacent to the breasting dolphins is trapezoid in shape. The side fronting the facility is 1,200 feet long. Two dredged sides of 640 feet extend at an angle and are closed in by the fourth side of 2,000 feet coinciding with the northern edge of the channel.

The "Bilderdyk" is too long to come in longitudinally to the dolphins at a slight angle due to the shape of the dredged basin. A broadside or sideways docking is necessary. The practice is to bring the LASH ship under her own power to a point opposite the facility about a ship's length distance at which time she is pushed to the dolphins by the tugs. Normally, on a flood tide the docking master backs the stern in gently, utilizing the tugs and tide to strike the dolphins flush. The ideal docking situation contemplates backing in the stern at a 30° to 40° angle until the ship is close to the dock at which time the bow is set against all of the dolphins. In reality, according to Alexander B. Stewart, General Manager of Atlantic Towing Company, ships usually strike No. 1 or No. 4 dolphin first.

At 1345 hours the "Bilderdyk" reached a point opposite the breasting dolphins. The tide was flooding. The weather was good with a light breeze blowing out of the southwest toward the facility. The tug "Savannah" was at the port bow with two bow lines and a stern line attached to the ship. The "Calhoun" was on the port quarter with bow and stern lines affixed. She was pushing the stern of the "Bilderdyk" toward the breasting dock. Docking Master Strickland was on the bridge and had "walkie-talkie" contact with the captains of the tugs who acknowledged his orders by whistle.

The prow of the vessel was 200 to 250 feet upstream from No. 4 dolphin. The stern of the "Bilderdyk" was pushed in slightly ahead of the bow. When the stern was approximately 25 feet from the dolphins, the vessel unexpectedly and momentarily stopped its motion and the bow began to swing toward the dock. The stern apparently "smelled bottom", according to Captain Strickland. The ship's engine was reversed. Orders were given to the "Savannah" to push astern on the bow. The "Calhoun" was pushing inward from the port quarter. It is agreed by practically all of the witnesses that the "Bilderdyk" was barely moving at this time.

The initial contact with the dock was made at the corner of No. 4 dolphin (the westernmost one) by the bow of the vessel at an angle of about 10°. The impact point was about 100 feet aft of the starboard wing of the bridge and 200 to 250 feet astern of the bow of the "Bilderdyk".

No one aboard the ship or the tugs was aware that considerable damage to No. 4 dolphin resulted from the contact. The Master, the Chief Officer, Third Officer and Docking Master were all surprised to learn that it occurred. No impact was felt. Captain Strickland testified that the contact was "very lightly" made, that the docking was "fairly normal", and that he had "no reason to feel" that there was any damage to the facility. He denied that the vessel was ever "out of control". This was confirmed by other witnesses. The only evidence of an impact on the side of the ship was a creosote mark. There were no scratches. The paint was not broken.

On the other hand, Gerald Wagner who was in charge of GPA testified that he was standing on No. 4 dolphin and that prior to the collision the bow of the "Bilderdyk" went upstream from No. 4 dolphin about 700 feet and later struck same "sideways" at a speed of 4 or 5 miles per hour. Mr. Wagner testified that when he saw that the collision was inevitable he ran toward the shoreside of the facility. Countering this testimony, Edward W. Bazemore who was employed by Southeastern Maritime Company, the shipowner's Local Agent, testified that he was standing on No. 3 dolphin (with Wagner) and that the approach of the ship was as normal as in the numerous other dockings of LASH ships he had observed.

Two observations are pertinent in respect to the claim of excessive speed. According to Docking Master Strickland, it is impossible to move the "Bilderdyk" broadside at such a speed if the engine of the tug were 50,000 horsepower. The "Savannah" was 2400 h.p.; the "Calhoun" 2875 h.p. It is calculable that at 5 miles per hour the imparted kinetic energy would be 1369 times the design energy. At that speed the breasting dolphin would have been completely shattered.⁶

Plaintiff's proposed findings of fact state that the "vessel was approaching the dock at a very slow speed". I agree.

In White Stack Towing Corporation v. Hewitt Oil Co., 216 F.2d 776, 779 (4th Cir.) the evidence was that it was "humanly impossible for a...