Now it is nine full days after the TACOMA went DIW and not a peep from the WSF as to why. Calling the gCaptain team…go for the throat on this one. Do the job no one else seems to care to do and demand answers from the lame lazy assed civil service pubes infesting WSF headquarters. Lord knows there is enough of them!
Inside source this AM tells me known problem with switchboard but ignored
Damage extensive requiring new board.
Good news, bad news. Read the whole article and draw your own conclusions.
Good news:
Also, on Friday, the Kitsap Sun reported that the operations director of Washington State Ferries has been put on administrative leave. Steve Rodgers was administratively reassigned to his home July 3, the Sun reported, citing a letter signed by Cam Gilmour, the state Department of Transportation’s chief operating officer.
Bad news:
Workers mistakenly allowed an extra 484 passengers to board a Seattle-bound ferry Friday afternoon, forcing the vessel to turn back to Bremerton.
Crew on the Cathlamet, scheduled to leave Bremerton at 4:20 p.m., thought the capacity was 1,600, so they allowed 1,684 people to board, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey said. The capacity is 1,200 passengers.
Well I for one am thoroughly convinced now due to the lack of information released to the public that the damage to the TACOMA’s switchboard is severe and likely will need a new one installed costing millions and taking months to accomplish. All the circumstantial evidence points to a major casualty hence why the vessel could not get propulsion going again requiring the tow back to the dock. Exactly what occurred is still an unknown but it doesn’t matter much anyway other that whether the accident was some latent defect (known or unknown) in the system or human caused. I will say that I believe it was human caused which is why the WSF doesn’t want to come clean. I blame the local media sources here in not pursuing this story to demand answers to many questions which they should be asking the WSF management daily. Why are they not? Pressure from the State?
As much as I don’t care for Joe Boss and his heavy handed rule in the commercial world, I also cannot abide a government run operation either. They are inbred societies of people who live in a system which protects fiefdoms and sloth and where the incompetent are rewarded rather than run off. When people can’t be fired because they are protected, this is what you get.
[QUOTE=c.captain;142461]Well I for one am thoroughly convinced now due to the lack of information released to the public that the damage to the TACOMA’s switchboard is severe and likely will need a new one installed costing millions and taking months to accomplish. All the circumstantial evidence points to a major casualty hence why the vessel could not get propulsion going again requiring the tow back to the dock. Exactly what occurred is still an unknown but it doesn’t matter much anyway other that whether the accident was some latent defect (known or unknown) in the system or human caused. I will say that I believe it was human caused which is why the WSF doesn’t want to come clean. I blame the local media sources here in not pursuing this story to demand answers to many questions which they should be asking the WSF management daily. Why are they not? Pressure from the State?
As much as I don’t care for Joe Boss and his heavy handed rule in the commercial world, I also cannot abide a government run operation either. They are inbred societies of people who live in a system which protects fiefdoms and sloth and where the incompetent are rewarded rather than run off. When people can’t be fired because they are protected, this is what you get.[/QUOTE]
Well shit, guess there’s no other option than to go to work for McDonalds. At least we get 10% off anusburgers.
[QUOTE=c.captain;142461]Well I for one am thoroughly convinced now due to the lack of information released to the public that the damage to the TACOMA’s switchboard is severe and likely will need a new one installed costing millions and taking months to accomplish. … I will say that I believe it was human caused which is why the WSF doesn’t want to come clean. I blame the local media sources here in not pursuing this story to demand answers to many questions which they should be asking the WSF management daily. Why are they not? Pressure from the State?[/QUOTE]
Gee do you really think that could ever happen?
WSF has to be the most inbred bunch of parasites to ever snag a State tit afloat and ashore. I bet they have this one covered up so deep that even the NSA couldn’t get a whisper of who did what. The history of the outfit and its incompetence at every level should have been enough for the CG to shut them down ages ago or to cause enough stink to finally turn the business over to a private operator.
Might be a job opening as a Ferry Executive, or a PAC. Counter… Jeez, 1,700 people on a 1,200 PAC boat…
as a Washington resident, I am livid over how the incident of the TACOMA’s casualty is getting swept under the rug and buried like this. It has been almost two weeks with the last news was released to the public
August 8, 2014
Ten days after the M/V Tacoma stalled off Bainbridge Island, ferry managers haven’t yet received a detailed plan to fix its electrical problems.
“The damage is a little more extensive than we thought,” said Capt. George Capacci, interim director of Washington State Ferries. Specialists from Siemens Global, which made the damaged components, are still inspecting the boat and may produce a repair plan within two weeks, Capacci said in a phone interview Friday. Initially, he predicted a repair plan would be ready sometime this week.
“The Tacoma’s going to be out of service a little longer than hoped,” he said. There also will be a board of inquiry to look at “root causes” of the power loss on July 29, he said.
In addition, a debriefing is planned next week to look at why the ferry Walla Walla carried only 600 passengers on the Seattle-Bainbridge run, instead of the allowable 1,200 passengers, in the hours following the Tacoma’s breakdown. The shortfall made delays worse for passengers, who waited up to three hours in line at the Seattle dock. Capacci has blamed a communication problem, but said Friday he doesn’t have further details.
The ferry Wenatchee is back in service after repairs in British Columbia, so there no longer are missed sailings due to a vessel shortage.
a “LITTLE” longer…what a load of SHIT! A “LOT” longer is more accurate! Why isn’t the Seattle Times demanding Capacci’s head for not releasing pertinent information on a publicly owned fleet? A FUCKING COVERUP OF UTTER INCOMPETENCE!
[QUOTE=c.captain;142657]as a Washington resident, I am livid over how the incident of the TACOMA’s casualty is getting swept under the rug and buried like this. It has been almost two weeks with the last news was released to the public… A FUCKING COVERUP OF UTTER INCOMPETENCE![/QUOTE]
I keep checking NTSB and it looks like they are going to stay out of this one. It’s a shame really because so many people were affected by this incident. I was hoping that the federal government would step in and make a full report widely available to the public like the Danish government did with the Emma Maersk’s flooding incident.
Does anyone here at gCaptain know anyone over at the NTSB that might get the ball rolling?
The NTSB often publishes a report well over a year after the incident, not weeks later. I am almost certain they will be involved.
[QUOTE=z-drive;142676]The NTSB often publishes a report well over a year after the incident, not weeks later. I am almost certain they will be involved.[/QUOTE]
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/current.html
I keep checking the above site and just have to assume that it would list all current investigations.
Unfortunately not, I’d say its usually a little over a year before a report comes out. They don’t always do a whole report, sometimes its just a “brief” if its not a super huge disaster.
[QUOTE=DredgeBoyThrottleJocky;142644]Might be a job opening as a Ferry Executive, or a PAC. Counter… Jeez, 1,700 people on a 1,200 PAC boat…
people have been saying this country is going to hell for years now. maybe not, but Washington may be trying to catch up to Bangladesh or the PI or West African standards.
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[QUOTE=c.captain;141595]NAW! Too busy doing the usual WSF union ferry employee practice of sitting on their fat asses all day, every day! A lazier, more useless bunch of layabouts I have yet to encounter.
“Got to file a beef with the shop steward because they changed the brand of the coffee”[/QUOTE]
have you never worked with ILWU who only work Matson ships???
You should see some of the line handlers I deal with. Uh uh uh uh GET THE FUCKIN TRUCK the 5 of us can’t lump this 5" poly mooring line the last 6 fee to the bollard. But they are tough guys!
[QUOTE=z-drive;142696]You should see some of the line handlers I deal with. Uh uh uh uh GET THE FUCKIN TRUCK the 5 of us can’t lump this 5" poly mooring line the last 6 fee to the bollard. But they are tough guys![/QUOTE]
Exactly! But do they also have the skill set to cuss you out while they are doing it?
Most verbal abuse I ever had to endure was from an ILWU line handler working Richmond/Oakland. Horrible at dealing with ships tiny Amsteel blue synthetic lines, but that deranged crackhead would make George Carlin squeamish. Every 2 weeks he was there, as well as 4 yrs later.
But at least he never used a forklift or a truck.
Yes they have this universal gesture in their orange gloves where they flail both hands up an down yelling “slack” in a high pitched scream, if slack is not provided in the exact catenary they require flailing increases, swearing exponentially increases and they may just even walk away for a little whole holding the whole job up. Then they go home until the next job.
The best is when they’re asleep in their cars when you come alongside!
There’s more information about the Tacoma casualty in the 8/22 WSF Weekly Update.
Tacoma repair plan
This week, we received an initial update on the Tacoma repair plan from Siemens Marine Solutions. The report
says a fuse blew in the vessel’s propulsion control system without indication to the operating engineers, triggering
a chain of events that led to the power failure. We continue to review the cause of the incident. A Board of Inquiry,
WSF’s highest level of investigation, convened this week and expects to complete their work once the vessel
repair is complete. Preliminary findings show the Tacoma will be out of service until at least December 2014.
what a meaningless obfuscating load of utter nothingspeak!
if somebody’s head doesn’t end up on a pike, I’ll blow a FUCKING fuse that the engineers will never miss!
at least one media source is not all peachy over this news
By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Published: Aug 22, 2014 at 9:02 AM PDT
SEATTLE (AP) - The green-and-white ferry pulled away from the docks and churned across Puget Sound, leaving behind Seattle’s waterfront. Passengers stood in the breeze on the deck or gazed out of the windows at the distant, snow-covered bulk of Mount Rainier.
Then the lights inside flickered, the engine stalled and the ferry was adrift with more than 400 people onboard.
The July 29 breakdown was the start of a tough summer for the nation’s largest ferry system, which hauls about 23 million passengers - commuters, locals and tourists alike - among the islands, peninsulas and mainland cities of western Washington state.
Officials are wondering whether the series of problems is just coincidence, or a more troubling sign of how deeply the state has cut into a transportation system that is a major economic driver and lifeline for many communities.
“The term ‘fragile’ has come up many times,” said Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey. “We’re OK, as long as everything works 24-7 and there are no major mishaps.”
After the ferry Tacoma stalled near Bainbridge Island, another ferry diverted to help, pulling it away from shore until two tug boats could bring it into the dock.
A few days later, smoke in the engine room of another vessel prompted the captain to have everyone don life jackets - the first time in recent memory such an order had been given.
Last week, a ferry returned to the dock at Bremerton after the captain realized crews had allowed onboard an extra 484 people, many of them Seattle Seahawks football fans on their way to an exhibition game.
Personnel issues are also posing challenges. The ferry system has been without a director since the last one left in April. It says it needs dozens more employees. Sailings can wind up being canceled when workers call in sick, because the agency is so short-staffed there’s sometimes no one to cover. The Coast Guard won’t let the vessels depart without adequate crews.
Another top executive, operations director Steve Rodgers, has been on administrative leave for undisclosed reasons. His son, a former ferries ticket seller, is appealing his termination for taking $529 from a work account.
A human-resources consultant wrote that the handling of his case smacks of nepotism. Unlike some prior incidents of theft by ferries workers, the matter was not referred to law enforcement.
State Sen. Curtis King, a Republican who co-chairs the Senate’s Transportation Committee, said mechanical failures can be expected in an aging fleet and trouble him less than the overloading of the ferry Cathlamet.
The boat’s capacity was 1,200, but crews thought it was 1,600. A total of 1,684 were allowed on.
“We need to figure out what’s going on and who’s running the ferry system and how many of these problems are preventable,” he said. “This system is critical to thousands of people, and it’s part of our highway system.”
Transportation Department officials said the spate of incidents was unprecedented and unfortunately timed, with other ferries already out of service for maintenance. But they also note that the ferries remain reliable.
As of mid-August, the vessels had completed 99.5 percent of their scheduled sailings this year - same as last year.
Gov. Jay Inslee has nevertheless directed the Transportation Department to come up with a plan for improving reliability.
Washington State Ferries operates 10 routes, including to British Columbia, with 22 vessels, some of which date back to the 1950s. It has an operating budget of $242 million, with fares covering 70 percent.
It’s been without a sustainable source of money since voters cut the state’s motor-vehicle excise tax to $30 in 1999. That forced the ferries system to raise fares, cut service and reduce costs by more than $40 million per year.
One new 144-car vessel has been delivered this year, with two more on order.
Rep. Drew Hansen, a Bainbridge Island Democrat who takes the ferry to get to his job at a Seattle law firm, wound up stuck in Seattle for hours after the Tacoma stalled. He was most frustrated with what he considered a lack of communication from the ferry system, but said overall it’s reliable.
“We still depend on the ferries to get to our jobs, sporting events, family engagements or whatever, and that’s not going to change,” he said.
OFF WITH ALL THEIR FUCKING HEADS!
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And now, a word from my favorite Chief Engineer:
