Kim Crest, SA v. MV SVERDLOVSK

753 F. Supp. 642, 1991 A.M.C. 1364, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17427, 1990 WL 211712
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 18, 1990
DocketCiv. A. H-87-3377
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 753 F. Supp. 642 (Kim Crest, SA v. MV SVERDLOVSK) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kim Crest, SA v. MV SVERDLOVSK, 753 F. Supp. 642, 1991 A.M.C. 1364, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17427, 1990 WL 211712 (S.D. Tex. 1990).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

HUGHES, District Judge.

1. Introduction.

On October 28, 1987, the M.V. Sverdlovsk, traveling inbound in the Houston Ship Channel, rammed the starboard quarter of the M.V. Cisco, damaging both vessels. Baltic Shipping Company escapes direct in personam liability because the compulsory pilot was solely at fault. Baltic Shipping Company, as an agent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is indirectly liable in personam, however, for the damages caused by the Sverdlovsk to the extent the ship would have been liable in rem.

*644 2. Vessels.

The Cisco, owned and operated by Kim Crest, S.A., is an ocean-going general cargo vessel of 105.57 meters, 3,768 tons, and Panamanian registration. The Cisco drew 15 feet. The Sverdlovsk, owned and operated by the Baltic Shipping Company, an agent of the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is an ocean-going general cargo vessel of 173.51 meters, 15,893 tons, and Soviet registration. The Sverdlovsk drew 27 feet. The ship engaged in commercial activities for the owner.

From entering the outer channel at Galveston until the collision, the Cisco was under the command of Houston pilot Larry Burnthorne, and the Sverdlovsk was under Houston pilot Robert White, Jr. The lights, lookout, navigation instruments, communication equipment, steering gear, propulsion machinery, manning, training, and supervision were in good order and were seaworthy on both ships. No malfunction of machinery or unavailability of machinery contributed to the collision.

In addition to the Sverdlovsk and the Cisco, the activity of three other vessels caused part of the confusion resulting in the collision. The Princess Highway, a car carrier of Japanese registration, began its inbound trip at approximately the same time as the Sverdlovsk. The Princess Highway was under Houston pilot James Griffin. The Marine Ruby, an outbound tug and towboat, was about one mile to the north of the collision, up the Houston channel. Another towboat, the Lilly Trahan, crossed from east to west in the intercoas-tal waterway before the collision, also to the north.

3. Location.

The entrance to the Port of Houston begins at the gap between Galveston Island and Bolivar Point. Between the jetties, the channel runs roughly east to west about four and one-half miles until the Galveston Channel branches to the south. These segments are the outer and inner bar channels. Near buoy 16 the Houston channel turns to the northwest towards Texas City for about one mile, where, at buoy 18, the channel turns slightly more northerly to buoy 25A. This segment is the Bolivar Roads. The intercoastal waterway crosses Bolivar Roads at its northern end and near the beginning of the Houston Ship Channel at buoy 25A and about one mile to the northwest of buoy 18 at the turn in the middle of Bolivar Roads. The channel is much narrower above the start of the Houston Ship Channel proper, where it runs up Galveston Bay to Morgans Point. The water outside of the channel, north of this narrowing point, is too shallow for ships to navigate.

4. Communications.

Ships in the Houston channel communicate with each other by the traditional whistle signals. Pilots and crew can also communicate with each other by the ships’ radios and the pilots’ radios. Ships passively communicate their positions by the combination of running and range lights they are required to carry. Through Houston Vessel Traffic Service (Traffic Service), the Coast Guard monitors the movement of vessels between buoy 11 in the Galveston Inner Bar Channel and the Manchester docks at the Interstate 610 bridge, near the inland terminus of the channel. Traffic Service gathers information by radar and radio surveillance and broadcasts it on a marine radio channel. Traffic Service monitors and records transmissions on two radio channels. The radio communication between the pilots of the Sverdlovsk and the Cisco was recorded by Traffic Service. The transcriptions are in evidence.

The casual, vague exchange of messages over the radio among the pilots was appalling. One of the qualities required of harbor pilots is clarity of signals, including radio communications. Fortunately, in this case, the sloppy communication procedures did not cause the collision.

5. Narrative.

On Sunday, October 25, 1987, the Cisco left Mobile for Houston in ballast to load bulk wheat for shipment to Venezuela. About 1:39 a.m., on October 28, the ship *645 picked up Pilot Burnthorne at the sea buoy that marks the entrance channel to the Houston Ship Channel. On the bridge were Captain Eric Anneveldt, Third Mate Marcelino Sepra, and Helmsman Bimbo De-mate in addition to Burnthorne. The weather and visibility were good, and the seas were slight, with a five knot wind from the northeast and a flood tide producing a one knot current up the channel.

The two other inbound vessels were seaward of the Cisco. Both the Princess Highway, piloted by Griffin, and the Sverdlovsk, piloted by White, were larger, faster, deeper draft, and headed farther up the channel than the Cisco. Pilots Griffin and White talked aboard the pilot boat that took them to the Princess Highway and Sverdlovsk. Griffin told White that he would slow the Princess Highway to allow the Sverdlovsk to overtake it because the Sverdlovsk was traveling farther up the channel than the Princess Highway. Later, Griffin, White, and Burnthorne agreed by radio that the two larger vessels were to overtake the Cisco before it entered the narrow part of the Houston Ship Channel at the Texas City branch, buoy 25A. Burnthorne also agreed by radio to slow and to steam out of the channel to the north of the red, starboard buoys. That would allow the Sverdlovsk and the Princess Highway ample room to pass safely to the Cisco’s port.

With White on the bridge of the Sverdlovsk were Captain Vladimir Shvedov, Second Officer Valery Slesarev, Helmsman Viktor Kalinin, and Lookout Radik Fatak-hov. The Sverdlovsk overtook the Princess Highway to its port, near buoys 3 and 4, seaward of the jetties. White ordered full maneuvering speed, about 14 knots plus the current, for the Sverdlovsk.

The captain of the Marine Ruby discussed the inbound vessels over the radio with the pilots.

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753 F. Supp. 642, 1991 A.M.C. 1364, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17427, 1990 WL 211712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kim-crest-sa-v-mv-sverdlovsk-txsd-1990.