# Another bridge incident - Mexican sail training vessel Cuauhtémoc

**URL:** https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/another-bridge-incident-mexican-sail-training-vessel-cuauhtemoc/72627
**Category:** Professional Mariner Forum
**Created:** [May 18, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/another-bridge-incident-mexican-sail-training-vessel-cuauhtemoc/72627 "2025-05-18T02:54:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 287

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### Author: ![Sand\_Pebble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Sand\_Pebble](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Sand_Pebble)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/another-bridge-incident-mexican-sail-training-vessel-cuauhtemoc/72627/287 "2025-05-27T13:06:14Z")

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Again, lots of talk about mechanical failure but I’m thinking this is probably human error, control station issue, just like the Manawanui sinking. In the thread below from '21, many folks on the forum assumed the Tug Courageous & Tanker Polar Endeavor collision was due to mechanical failure too. Read comment #94 & the Professional Mariner magazine follow up article afterwards. Below is a quote from that article. I say 80% chance it was human error.

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"The mate on watch guided Courageous across the Port of Valdez toward the docked ship using the tug’s autopilot feature. At one point, an alarm began sounding in the wheelhouse. The other mate helped address the alarm. Meanwhile, the mate helming the tug used manual throttle controls to bring the tug to a stop near the tanker to await further orders. Then, he released the throttle controls.

“At that point, the tug reverted to auto … and worked forward until it hit the ship,” Morales said. Attempts by the mate to avoid that collision weren’t successful.."

> [@Chouest Tug hit tanker Polar Endeavour?](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/chouest-tug-hit-tanker-polar-endeavour/58061):
>
> Greetings, Rumor has it that a Chouest Tug in Valdez hit the loaded Tanker Polar Endeavour at 10 kts. while the tanker was tied up at the berth. Can’t find any reports of this I have seen two pictures of the tanker quite a lot of damage to stern qtr.

> **[Tugboat strikes loaded tanker at Valdez terminal, breaching hull –...](https://professionalmariner.com/tugboat-strikes-loaded-tanker-at-valdez-terminal-breaching-hull/)**

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