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Human error led to Carnival Pride striking Baltimore pier

(Photo: NTSB)
Carnival Pride's bow and retractable mooring and observation platform hit the passenger walkway on the pier
Approaching with excessive speed at too steep of an angle caused Carnival Pride to strike the pier at Baltimore, resulting in more than $2m in damage, the National Transportation Safety Board found.

There were no injuries or pollution in the May 8, 2016, allision at Cruise Maryland's South Locust Point Terminal.

However, Carnival Pride's bow struck the pier and fendering, destroying an elevated passenger walkway. Three vehicles were damaged as the walkway collapsed, and the ship's hull and observation and mooring platform sustained minor damage.

Carnival Pride’s staff captain had the conn of the vessel and allowed it to approach the pier too fast and at an angle too steep. Upon recognizing the situation, he repeatedly attempted to shift to manual controls but was unable to do so at the bridge wing station.

A Maryland pilot was aboard but had transferred conn to the staff captain for the final approach and docking, per the agreement between the Association of Maryland Pilots and passenger vessels berthing at the cruise terminal.

Carnival Pride's captain took the conn from the staff captain and shifted engine and helm control back to the center console. Once control returned, the captain regained full control of the Azipods and thrusters and applied full thrust away from the berth and slowed the ship's forward progress, but not before the bulbous bow struck the fendering and the under-pier support columns.

As the ship continued forward, its bow hit the passenger walkway, then the walkway was struck by Carnival Pride's starboard-side retractable observation and mooring platform that had been deployed and rigged to assist in the mooring.

The walkway collapsed onto three port department vehicles.

The NTSB investigation found the staff captain misjudged the power available in the joystick mode for correcting the maneuver. In the seconds it took the officer to assess the joystick control would not be enough, he thought, to slow the ship, he lost valuable time in shifting to manual control.

The staff captain could not explain how he was unable to assume manual control at the bridge wing station, and Carnival Cruise Line was not able to replicate the failed transfer of control from joystick mode to manual during subsequent testing. Therefore, Carnival has been unable to determine a cause other than possible human error, the NTSB said.

The safety board's investigation determined the staff captain's errors were the probable cause of the accident. The NTSB also cited the captain's insufficient oversight during the maneuver.