Officials say shorter duck-boat route meets captain's concerns

The captain at the helm of the duck boat in July's fatal collision on the Delaware River had some advice ready when federal investigators asked what could be done to prevent a similar accident.

"It would be nice if we had a little more buffer zone for the larger vessels, tugs, the freighters, with chemical ships going up and down there," said Gary Fox, who grew up around boats on the Jersey Shore. "If you interview every captain in there, they'll tell you: Everyone's had a situation with a tug or a barge."

Fox was navigating the crowded waterway on the afternoon of July 7 when smoke pouring from the front forced him to cut the engine. The amphibious vessel drifted in the swift current, the anchor unable to hold it, until a barge being towed capsized it, killing two Hungarian tourists.

The jumble of tugs, freighters, and motorboats will be no less intense later this month when Ride the Ducks expects to put its amphibious vehicles back on the Delaware.

The tour-boat operator, in consultation with the Coast Guard, has drafted a new safety plan that officials say addresses the concerns raised by Fox, in particular how small vessels such as the ducks can safely navigate in the often-crowded waterway.

"We did a top to bottom or, as we say in the maritime industry, a stem to stern of their operations," said Capt. Todd Gatlin of the Coast Guard sector that oversees the Delaware Bay. "One of the most concerning things to me and to us is the interaction between such a small vessel and a large vessel. That is why the new route is considerably smaller."

On the old route, the ducks left from the Race Street ramp and navigated as far from shore as 300 feet and as far south as the Independence Seaport Museum. Under the new arrangement, the ducks will go from Race Street to Pier 5 near Arch Street and navigate within 100 feet of shore.

Most significant, the ducks will not enter the water if any large vessel is within half a nautical mile and approaching the area where the ducks operate. That restriction, combined with the shorter route, will ensure that the ducks always have time to return to shore if a large vessel approaches, Gatlin said.

Bob Salmon, a spokesman for Ride the Ducks, said the company had not yet determined how the restriction would affect the number of daily trips. He added, however, that many of the large ships docked well below the operating area.

For the tourists, the other significant change is that the trip on the water will last only 15 minutes, down from 30.

The company faces another hurdle - approval from the city. Managing Director Richard Negrin said he was pleased by some of the changes but made it clear that the city was considering requesting additional precautions.

"The Coast Guard says it is safe for them to operate," Negrin said. "The question is: Are we able to do some things that are sort of belt and suspenders? We may want to create some redundancies in safety systems."

Negrin declined to specify because city officials were still deliberating. He said Mayor Nutter would decide by the end of the month.

Salmon said the company was starting to wonder when Nutter would give his final answer.

"While we understand Mayor Nutter has enormous responsibilities in other areas, we are perplexed regarding his holdup in granting approval for Ride the Ducks to resume operations in Philadelphia," Salmon said in a statement. "We would like to point out that every day of delay costs our company - and our employees - lost income and jobs."

"They gave us a final proposal less than a week ago," Negrin said, "and we look over things carefully."

Approval by the city would reestablish a tourist attraction that has been challenged in the past. Gregory Adams, the Coast Guard's port captain in Philadelphia from 1998 to 2002, barred ducks from operating off Penn's Landing because of concern for their safety amid larger ships. His successor, Jonathan Sarubbi, reversed the ban in 2003.

The Ride the Duck boats are based on a World War II design and have some limitations. A Coast Guard study last year noted that the ducks had limited maneuverability and were more likely to lose propulsion or experience a fire or grounding than other smaller boats.

That report found that the number of incidents involving amphibious vessels nationally had risen from 11 in 2008 to 24 in 2009. From 2002 to 2009, amphibious vehicles on the Delaware Bay had a higher number of problems - 28 - than those in any of the 17 other locations examined by the Coast Guard. The amphibious category includes Philadelphia's duck boats and similar vehicles that serve as tourist attractions in many parts of the country.

Coast Guard officials cautioned against drawing conclusions from such a small number of incidents. Salmon, the Ride the Ducks spokesman, said the increase might be attributed to a lack of consistent reporting standards.

To deal with breakdowns, the new plan calls for the ducks to keep a rescue boat docked near Pier 5. The rescue boat, a 25-foot vessel, would tow the duck and its passengers back to shore. In addition, Ride the Ducks has modified the air horns so that they will continue to operate if the engine is shut off. On July 7, Fox was not able to use his air horn, apparently because he had turned off the engine when he saw smoke.

As Fox tried to figure out what was wrong, a tugboat operated by K-Sea Transportation pushed the barge into the duck boat. The collision sent the 35 passengers and two crew members into the river. Killed were Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20.

The investigation is being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, which two weeks ago released transcripts of interviews and other documents related to the inquiry.

Investigators have established that the first mate on the tug, Matt Devlin, made or received 21 cell-phone calls during the 21/2 hours leading up to the accident, including one that started five minutes before the collision.

The night of the accident, Devlin told a K-Sea executive that he had been on the phone with family because his young son was experiencing a life-threatening emergency. His son survived, and Devlin refused to talk to investigators.

The NTSB documents do not cite a cause. If one is established, it will be part of the agency's final report, which is expected this summer.

The documents also said the NTSB could not verify that Fox had called the Coast Guard to report that he had anchored his boat and was awaiting help. Salmon said that was because Fox had been trying to manage what he believed was a fire. The question of whether Fox called is still under investigation.

After the accident, NTSB investigators found the radiator cap of the duck boat on the floor of the engine compartment, a possible cause of the smoke that filled the boat. The night before the accident, a newly hired mechanic had done the daily inspection of the duck. The NTSB did not determine how the cap had been left off.

Bob Mongeluzzi, a lawyer representing the families of Schwendtner and Prem, said the NTSB documents raised serious questions about the safety of the ducks and their operation on the river. He said the distinctive canopies could hinder evacuation and prevent passengers from putting on life preservers.

The NTSB had recommended eliminating the canopies after 13 people drowned when a duck boat operated by the now-defunct Land & Lakes Tours Inc. sank in 1999, but the Coast Guard has said the canopies could stay.

Salmon said the vehicles meet all Coast Guard standards. As for the canopies, he said they were safe and might have even prevented injury by protecting passengers when the barge ran over the duck.