The master of the 1978-built tug Kristin Alexis sounded the general alarm as the vessel rocked and tilted after a Doun Shipping chemical tanker and another tug motored past on the Mississippi River, according to one account of a 2013 casualty.

As the wake continued to pour over the sides of the stricken towboat, water flooded into watertight doors that were allegedly left open, and flooded the engine room. The rocking intensified. A crewman’s legal claim contends the Mar­quette Transportation tug could not be righted — it listed too far to port, capsized and sank in an incident that sent five crewmen into the water, leading to one injury.

The incident is the focus of a multi-sided legal battle over which company is to be held responsible.

Kentucky-based Marquette launched the litigation in October 2013 against vessel interests associated with the 32,000-dwt chemical tanker Chembulk Westport (built 2005), which was owned by the Mi-Das Line affiliate Doun Shipping of Japan.

$1.2m damage alleged

In legal papers, Marquette claims the 146-gt Kristin Alexis was moored on the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans when it capsized, causing what was initially estimated by the company to be some $1.2m in damage.

The company alleged that the incident occurred because the Chembulk Westport passed the US-flag tug while transiting the river downbound “at a high rate of speed”, causing its wake to flood the Kristin Alexis.

Marquette’s lawyers at New Orleans firm Phelps Dunbar alleged negligence on the part of the tanker, which is Panama-flagged and classed by Japan’s ClassNK. The tug owner initially secured an arrest order against the Chembulk Westport, although it was later released.

After the filing, lawyers acting for Mi-Das quickly denied Marquette’s allegations and sought to deflect liability towards New Jersey’s Weeks Marine, alleging that the company’s 24-gt Captain Pete (built 1981) passed between the Chembulk Westport and Kristin Alexis at a high rate of speed. Mi-Das is represented in the case by lawyers at New Orleans firm Murphy, Rogers, Sloss & Gambel.

Weeks Marine’s legal team at Waits, Emmett, Popp & Teich have argued that the company should not be forced to endure the litigation.

“No party to this litigation can come forth with any admissible evidence that the M/V Captain Pete created any sort of wake or swell that caused or contributed to the capsizing of the M/V Kristin Alexis,” wrote lawyer Matthew Popp earlier this year.

But in July, US District Judge Jay Zainey rejected Weeks Marine’s request to throw out claims against it on the grounds that it was premature, since expert reports on the incident had not yet been completed.

The case has also seen a seaman on the Kristin Alexis, Adam Verdin, file claims against the various parties for injuries suffered in the incident.

Verdin’s lawyer has claimed that, when the wakes from the Chembulk Westport and Captain Pete hit the tug while it was assisting a heavylift operation, its watertight doors had been left wide open and a new wheelhouse had been installed that altered the vessel’s stability.

“With her watertight doors leading to the engineroom wide open and unsecured, the watertight integrity of the vessel was compromised and the vessel immediately began to severely rock and tilt side to side due to excessive amounts of water entering the engineroom and the instability and unseaworthiness of the vessel due to the addition of the new wheelhouse,” wrote Louisiana lawyer Taylor Hale.

But Marquette, which denies that Verdin was injured, has also filed papers seeking exoneration and claiming that the tug had no value, so its potential liability should be capped at $0.

Singapore manager MTM Ship Management and Chembulk Management, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s Berlian Laju Tanker (BLT) that has the ship on time charter, were initially targeted by Marquette’s lawsuit but both were ultimately dismissed from the case.

A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin on 2 November.(Copyright)