Ship Happens

"Traffic," Bar Pilot Donald Hughes barks. "I need some help." The tanker Mundogas Europe has just lost her steering beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, and if the anhydrous ammonia she's carrying hits the water a toxic cloud could cloak San Francisco. A di

A A A Comments By Ellen McGarrahan Wednesday, Jun 14 1995

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"It never should have happened," says Moloney.
"That's why you've got backup systems," Captain of the Port Don Montoro says. "That's the whole thing about steering systems -- if they had recognized it."

"I don't know why they didn't go to it right away," says Hal Hoffman, the agent for the ship's owner, Aris Shipping.

The Coast Guard's report does not fault those on board the Mundogas for not employing the tanker's backup system. The report also states: "This investigation has not revealed anything which would lead me to believe that this was not a one-time event."

But in fact, it was not a one-time event.
On March 28 -- two weeks and two days after the ship went out of control beneath the Golden Gate Bridge -- the Mundogas was on her way to Stockton in the narrow deep-water channel that leads from the bay to that inland port. Capt. James Shanower was on the tanker's bridge. At 4:25 in the afternoon, the tanker's steering blew. Shanower "immediately shifted to secondary steering from bridge, functioning perfectly," the Coast Guard's incident report states.

"Since then they've had a technician from the manufacturer from Germany to install a whole new system," says Hoffman. The Mundogas is traveling between Alaska and Korea at the moment; she'll be back in port Aug. 8.