25 Fall 2024 Proceedings to South America, a large, breaking wave struck the 672- foot vessel with immense pressure, breaking seven cabin windows and causing extensive internal structural dam- age to the vessel, injuries to several passengers, and the death of a U.S. citizen, also a passenger. Due to the severity of the incidents, ACTEUR inves- tigators visited both cruise ships in the port of Ushuaia, Argentina, and conducted multiday investigations. International Collaboration Proves Beneficial Conducting investigations in Argentina and the Antarctic was a novel operation, requiring swift plan- ning and critical thinking to navigate international travel requirements, internal Coast Guard policies, and inter- national collaboration demands and restrictions. The team worked with the State Department to obtain last- minute visas to Argentina and rapidly establish a work- ing relationship with the Argentinian border protection and customs authorities. They further opened commu- nications with investigators from the vessels’ flag states of Portugal and Norway. Due to differences in national procedures for marine casualty investigations regarding public transparency and evidence handling, investiga- tors worked together to develop unique international collaboration agreements. This approach enabled all par- ties to benefit from each other’s expertise and authorities. The persistence to overcome logistical and govern- mental challenges proved highly fruitful. The inves- tigations pinpointed significant gaps in several areas including international regulations, operator policies and procedures, weather and nautical data availability, and vessel engineering design rules and parameters. After pinpointing the issue of over pressurization of the inflatable boats, the investigators quickly published a safety alert to the industry to make sure other operators are not repeating the same mistakes. As the remainder of the investigations unfolded, it was revealed that the industry was lacking safety regulations for launching excursions away from a cruise ship gener- ally and specifically in locations without coastal state reg- ulations, like the Antarctic. This created a void in safety requirements, which operators and coastal states were left to fill on their own. Such regulatory gaps often lead to lack of uniformity in standards and practices, which can cost lives in extreme environments like the Antarctic Ocean, where no coastal state has regulatory authority. Further, it became clear that wave patterns in the world’s oceans are changing and becoming more severe and unpredictable, necessitating more concentrated efforts to update weather data and charts for mariners in the remote polar regions. Lastly, the international cooperation and in-depth analysis by the investigators showed that the engineer- ing rules used by classification societies to build new cruise ships fail to account for the extreme forces gener- ated by breaking waves. A breaking wave can generate pressures significantly higher than a swell. In the design rules, this extreme pressure is accounted for in the areas of the ship’s bow, but much less so the farther aft you go. Thus, a breaking wave hitting the side of the ship could generate pressures above what the builders designed the vessel to withstand and cause severe damage to the structure and passengers on board. The perseverance of the ACTEUR team will help the U.S. Coast Guard, Norway, and Portugal to advocate to the IMO for the implementation of safety regulations for excursion vessels in the polar regions. Additionally, ves- sel operators have a better understanding of the short- comings of their current operational procedures and paths to improvement. Classification societies also have the information needed to update their construction standards to account for the severity of breaking waves. Lastly, the international maritime community can use the data to continue developing plans for addressing the rising severity of sea states, heavy weather, and the increasing occurrence of unpredictable waves. In this instance, ACTEUR investigating officers had the rare opportunity to initiate multiple investiga- tions during a single deployment to a remote foreign port to identify hazards and spur safety improvements around the globe. Knowing the profound impacts these and future international investigations can have keeps marine safety professionals worldwide always ready. Semper Paratus! About the authors: LT Nikolay Markov is a private sector attorney who joined the Coast Guard as a prevention officer. He has served at Sector New Orleans as a marine inspector, followed by a tour at Sector Virginia as a marine casualty investigator. He is currently the chief of the investigations divi- sion in Europe. CWO Joshua Nix has over 20 years of Coast Guard inspection and inves- tigation experience. He has been stationed in Sector New York, Sector Hawaii, Sector North Carolina, Sector Southeast New England, Sector Buffalo, and Coast Guard Activities Europe. CDR J.B. Zorn served at Coast Guard Activities Europe from 2021 through 2024. He is a prevention officer and marine safety engineer. Previ- ous assignments include Sector Honolulu, the Naval Postgraduate School, the Marine Safety Center, Sector Charleston, and congressional affairs. CDR Kelli Dougherty has served in the Office of Investigations & Analysis at Coast Guard headquarters since July 2022. Her division is responsible for overseeing marine casualty investigations, suspension and revocation cases involving credentialed mariners, and violation investigations. Mr. Jason Neubauer has served as the deputy chief of the Office of Inves- tigations & Analysis at Coast Guard headquarters since May 2023. He is responsible for overseeing marine casualty investigations, suspension and revocation cases involving credentialed mariners, violation investi- gations, and data analysis for the Coast Guard’s prevention operations.
