A vessel has run aground on the Lower Mississippi, miles south of New Orleans. Night is falling, a second tow is bearing down in the channel, and calls are coming in from the Coast Guard, the owner, and the underwriter. What do you do, and in what order? 

This session doesn’t answer that question for you, it puts you in the room where the answer gets made. Working through a realistic Mississippi River grounding scenario in real time, attendees in this participatory session will grapple with the decisions that salvage masters, tug captains, marine surveyors, and response coordinators face in the field.  

The session unfolds in structured phases, with complications introduced as the situation evolves — a suspected hull breach, environmental reporting obligations, a second vessel becoming a navigation hazard. Small groups work through each escalation with experienced practitioners before coming back together for a debrief grounded in three foundational principles: safety of life, environmental protection, and salving the vessel. 

Attendees will:

• Work through a realistic Lower Mississippi grounding scenario and practice sequencing decisions when everything is urgent 
• Examine how priorities shift as a casualty escalates and what professional framework guides those decisions under pressure
• Compare notes with experienced tug operators and marine professionals on emergency response decision-making in real shallow-water casualty conditions
• Leave with a transferable mental model for the next time something goes sideways on the water