Digital Extra

The tugboat that controlled the unmanned 340-foot-long barge need never be inspected.

Could inspections have prevented the accident? Possibly. "If that barge had been manned, and the anchor was workable, they could have gotten that barge to hold," said Al Cornette, president/general manager of Local 333, International Longshoremen, the union that represents crew members of tugs and barges.

"It's so easy for something very bad to happen," said Steven D. Brown, a master pilot and former captain of the grounded tug, the Scandia. He described the Scandia as "very deep and very narrow," and said that it rolled more than the average tug -- although he said the boat was safe and well maintained by its owner, Eklof Marine.

The tug-and-barge industry has grown so dramatically during the past 30 years that barges are an everyday occurrence on Rhode Island waterways. Barges, some of them unmanned, carry most of the fuel oil into the Port of Providence. The oil used to be carried by tankers, which are far more expensive to operate.

Many observers of the shipping industry believe that regulations governing tugs and barges are too lenient. A bill to require more stringent inspection and licensing was passed by the U.S. House two years ago but failed to pass the Senate.

Many also feel that the risks of an accident are particularly great with an unmanned barge. Eklof Marine, which also owns the grounded barge North Cape, was one of the companies that fought successfully for the right to have unmanned barges.

An unmanned barge is towed by a tug as a dinghy is towed by a yacht -- except that the barge is nearly three times longer than the tug. The barge has no power of its own. More importantly, it can't stop on its own. As a result, the tug cannot stop abruptly, either. The barge would plow right into its stern.

Tugboats also sometimes have to disconnect the towing able to maneuver around the barge.

"Barges are lost by tugboats not all that infrequently," said Howard McVay, a member of the Northeast Pilots Association.

Barges do, however, have anchors. One master pilot who spoke with the Journal-Bulletin yesterday but did not want his name used said that if the crew had been able to set the anchor on the barge, the oil spill might have been averted.

The exact cause of the accident is under investigation. In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board met behind closed doors to yesterday to question the captain of the tug, Gregory Aitken.

The Journal-Bulletin has learned, however, that two members of the tug crew whom the Coast Guard placed aboard the barge Friday spent 40 minutes trying to drop the anchor, but could not do so -- apparently because a shackle held the anchor in place.

McVay said that even if the crew members had been able to drop the anchor there was no guarantee that the anchor would have held the barge, because barge anchors, unlike those on tankers, are seldom used. "If it had been a ship and they let go of the anchor it probably would have held," he said.

Lt. Cmdr. Mark Skordinksi, of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office, said that the anchors aboard barges are not tested, even on the annual inspection.

"We examine the size, the chain -- but we don't go out and do an operational test," he said.

Eklof Marine, based in Staten Island, N.Y., has said that both grounded vessels were "built and maintained to the highest marine engineering standards," and fully conform to industry standards.

Brown, who left Eklof last year after nearly 13 years of employment, said that although the legal safety and inspection standards are lenient, Eklof exceeds the standards -- requiring fire drills on tugs, for example, and providing survival suits for the crew members.

"I am sure the firefighting equipment was up to snuff," he said. He also said that Captain Aitken was conscientious, capable and experienced. "I bet he's devastated," Brown said.

Eklof's tugs are piloted by master pilots. The law requires only that they be piloted by licensed operators, who need only three years' experience.

In a statement released yesterday, Douglas Eklof, the company's vice president, said: "We deeply regret that this incident has occurred. I say this personally and on behalf of my company. It was an accident, and I am sorry."

The Longshoremen's Union does not hold Eklof in such high esteem, asserting that the company stripped its tug captains of union membership after a recently resolved labor dispute. Nonunion captains are more vulnerable to company pressure to make trips in poor weather, the union's Cornette charged.

Though it is the captain's decision whether to make the trip, Cornette said that "we do know a lot of these captains who have a lot of pressure on them."

That problem may be industrywide. "The company wants you to go," said a captain who spoke to the Journal-Bulletin yesterday on the condition that his name not be used. "It's profit-minded." He said he had been pressured to make the New York-to-Providence run in possibly dangerous conditions.

Although they are less safe and they carry less oil, tugs and barges have pushed the once-dominant oil tankers to the industry's shoals for two reasons. First, tugs and barges are cheaper to operate than tankers because they require less equipment and a much smaller crew.

Second, at least according to McVay of the Northeast Pilots Association, many tankers can no longer make it up Narragansett Bay because shifting sands have made the channel too shallow in places. Dredging is needed, he said.

The proliferation of tug and barge traffic -- about one a day comes into the Port of Providence -- has put Rhode Island waters at greater risk, McVay said -- the more traffic the greater the chance of an accident.

Steven Brown, the former Scandia captain, thinks that shipping companies are sometimes unfairly characterized as indifferent safety and environmental issues. Nevertheless, he sounded a note of warning: "In the tug and barge world, disaster is waiting behind every corner."

With staff reports from Jon Graney.