The City argues that a wharfinger's duties pertain to providing a safe berth, and do not extend to areas outside the wharf or harbor and do not include a duty to warn of open and obvious sea and weather conditions. Therefore, a wharfinger must warn the ship captain about such hidden dangers as underwater obstacles in the approach and latent structural defects in the wharf. It is well established that a wharfinger has no duty to warn of open and obvious conditions that can be reasonably ascertained by a vessel. Because most weather conditions are open and obvious, and can be discovered with reasonable diligence, a wharfinger does not have a duty to warn of such dangers. See, e.g., Pacific Alaska Fuel Servs.
Ice floes are an open and obvious condition.
With reasonable diligence, the Alaskan Monarch could have learned of prevailing meteorological conditions outside the harbor. The Alaskan Monarch was in contact with PIP and other vessels. The record indicates that Captain Hansen was aware of the ice conditions when the Alaskan Monarch was proceeding towards the harbor but before it became stuck. He decided to proceed anyway. Because Hansen possessed sufficient information to put him on notice of the conditions, and because he could have obtained more information with reasonable diligence, the ice was not a hidden hazard.