At 0250 local time on June 13, 2018, the inbound bulk carrier Yochow collided with the articulated tug and barge OSG Independence/OSG 243, which was moored at the TPC Group, Inc. facility on the Houston Ship Channel in Houston, Texas. The pilot on Yochow planned to turn wide at Sims Bayou, intending to stay to the south side of the channel to pass the dredge MBI 05 operating in the channel just past the turn. He ordered “hard starboard” to make the turn. The helmsman repeated the pilot’s order but immediately put the rudder hard to port. Ten seconds later, the pilot recognized the error and ordered midships while tapping with his fingers on the rudder angle indicator above his head to get the helmsman’s attention. It took the steering gear 15 seconds to shift from hard port to midships, and then the pilot repeated his original hard-starboard order. The rudder reached hard starboard 12 seconds later, although the ship’s heading was still falling to port at about 12 degrees per minute. With the port anchor and two shots of chain deployed, the Yochow collided at approximately 4.5 knots with the port side of the tank barge OSG 243 amidships at 02:49:45.
