Latest from my Indian friends.
This is ridiculous. What about ship master? Cannot believie he was unaware od all this shit unless he joined in Charleston.
25.09.25 edited and removed “cake & aniversary “ item
QUOTE:
joined the vessel as chief engineer in April 2024……………..San Juan was only given a five-hour handover briefing when he joined the vessel, which they call “insufficient” for him to have obtained a complete picture of the status of the engine room and all the vessel’s critical machinery . ……………….MSC Michigan VII in June 2024, when the vessel had a runaway incident as it was departing Charleston, South Carolina, END QUOTE
Short handover time is not a mitigating factor. Two months should be sufficient to get a picture which it looks the unfortunate scapegoat -the Chief Engineerr got .
But :
QUOTE
San Juan wrote up the issues, and they were reported to the master of the vessel, who notified the shoreside office of the management company..
Further, they report the pilot had not been advised of any mechanical issues with the vessel……………
he agrees to plead guilty to one count that he failed to report a hazardous condition to the U.S. Coast Guard when the ship arrived in South Carolina,
END QUOTE
a) he reported problems to the company /management via master and his obligations here are finished . His reporting job was done.
b) advising the pilot about the impediments to safe navigation while under US pilotage is masters job not the chief engineer. And not reporting it by the master is as far as I remember federal offence.
c) reporting obligations as specified by Marpol Protocol I
Item c) and Item d) are Masters/owners/managements responsibilities not chief engineers.
Unless USCG considers their whistleblowing lure of monetary gratification as an obligation nowadays.
The charges for witness manipulation , obstruction and falsification of information given to investigating body seem to me quite valid although I am not sure He acted on his own w/o being pressed or bullied by master/company tech management .
