Maritime Report Blames Poor Maintenance for Staten Island Ferry Accident

More than a year after the Staten Island ferry, the Andrew J. Barberi crashed into a passenger terminal, injuring at least 60 people, there is no official report into the accident. The Coast Guard has not offered a report. The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the accident. However, a report by Professional Mariner blames lax maintenance of the ferry for the accident. According to the Professional Mariner, after the ferry boat crash landing on May 8 last year, the Coast Guard found that the ferry boat had no procedures for routine changing of oil filters in the propulsion unit. The Coast Guard then issued an industry wide safety alert about the need for proper oil filter maintenance. The Coast Guard also found that the maintenance of the ferry was being undertaken by several levels of engineering personnel, both on the ferry as well as onshore. These personal however failed to realize that the oil canister filters required regular replacement, and that failure to replace these could result in improper operation of the valves. Besides, according to the Professional Mariner, lube oil samples were contaminated, and there were no replacements for the filters available aboard the ferry, or at a nearby maintenance facility. The 2010 Staten Island ferry crash wasn't the first accident involving the boat that maritime lawyers had come across. In 2003, the same ferry had crashed into a maintenance pier in St. George. That accident had left 11 people dead, and dozens severely injured. The accident was later traced to the assistant captain of the vessel, who apparently had blacked out at the controls. He later admitted to operating the vessel under the influence of painkillers.

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