Coast Guard recommends enforcement action

As one its findings, the U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the December 2012 grounding of Shell’s Kulluk floating drilling rig has recommended that the appropriate authorities investigate possible infringements of U.S. law governing marine operations.

The Coast Guard’s report from the investigation says that Edison Chouest Offshore, the operator of the Aiviq, the vessel that was towing the Kulluk, appears to have broken the law by failing to report to the U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping some of the problems encountered by the Aiviq when towing the Kulluk during the summer of 2012, prior to the tow in which the grounding occurred. Those problems included the failure of one of the Aiviq’s engines and an ingress of seawater that caused a sustained list during a storm.

The report also says that there is evidence that the Aiviq’s chief engineer may have committed an act of negligence in the manner in which he managed the Aiviq’s fuel system; that the Aiviq’s master may have been negligent by not effectively overseeing the Aiviq’s bridge officers during the Kulluk tow; that the master may have infringed regulations governing the Aiviq’s watch-keeping system; and that the Aiviq’s mate may have been negligent by failing to ensure appropriate tension in the towline to the Kulluk.

—Alan Bailey