As many of us here have already postulated, the ship had serious electrical issues which were not reported to the USCG and they tried to squeak out of the US before dealing with them. Like with so many accidents, this looks like it was all about saving money and forcing that ship to depart when it very may been unseaworthy to do so.
Now we need to see where the paper trails leads? Certainly Synergy is going to be implicated but I also suspect (and hope) Maersk as well!
Not reporting deficiencies to PSC or Port authorities of a littoral state in this case USCG the “Judge Dread” is a federal crime . Reporting defficiencies , that may impair safe navigation , cause pollution or damage to property is mentioned in many publications refered to as industry advise, Also there is a part of Marpol wich desribes well what & why must be reported . Every time I took a pilot in US navigable waters He asked me such question : are You aware of any defficiencie etc, etc and my declaration is BINDING .
They should have raided both ISM managers and Maersk as time charterer section and secure all comunication record with the ship. And this should be done long time ago .Now is too late. The desk clean up process has already been done. That is one of the weaknesses of maritime investigations as they look mostly at the ship .
Well, to completely destroy an electronic paper trail would mean lots of hard drives and servers would not just be wiped but likely destroyed physically which itself becomes its own evidence that criminal evidence has been destroyed and that crimes are being concealed.
I only hope that FBI investigators will provide the master and chief of the DALI some degree of immunity so that they will spill on Synergy who might then spill on Maersk to lessen the charges (and fines) they end up facing.
Ultimately Maersk needs one serious comeuppance here and to pay for the new bridge plus to compensate the families of those who died on it that morning.
Could be but to me it seems too late . USCG has a whistle blower policy which generated a lot of positive results ( except in one case of Geek Owners) . In this case i am not sure they will be offered "Crown witness " status. But may be . Honestly I would not like to be in the shoes of this Master.
Master of Zim Mexico III went into a hole for much lesser crime re numbers killed due to his blunder of trusting technical teams o/b and in office, that operating bow thruster with SG on is a safe practice during docking/undocking ops .Vsl was CPP fitted and I happen to know it well as siter ship was my first command.
They will take possession of ships computers, which may already be in the hands of the Coast Guard. That should give them most of what they need to determine what the company knew shoreside about the condition of the ship. The trick will be to determine what the Master knew but did not report via email. What, if anything, was known and told verbally to the office via phone.
As we have seen before a company tends to try and hang things on the Master by using the ISM Code as a perceived get out of jail free card.
ISM 5.2 - The Company should establish in the safety management system that the master has the overriding authority and the responsibility to make decisions with respect to safety and pollution prevention and to request the Company’s assistance as may be necessary.
Possible. Since 9-11 or maybe even before they give major aircraft accidents a once-over to make sure it wasn’t a bomb or sabotage.
Besides for that, if they DON’T look that will of course be 100% proof that it was Jewish Space Lasers or something and the FBI is of course in on it
Also if they do look, so not really a win for them either way.
I would be SO happy to see it go higher up the food chain. If it flies or floats, someone nominally the skipper of it has been told to get it moving and worry about the repairs later or find a new line of work.
I cannot agree more and hence why I hope they provide the master and chief with limited immunity if they come clean and provide direct evidence that management not only knew of seaworthiness issues but directed the ship to sail regardless. I hope to hell this makes it all the way to fall on Maersk’s lap. In the end I hope this costs Maersk billions and that it puts Synergy into bankruptcy because I believe that while paid by the owner, they got their marching orders from the charterer and served as Maersk’s lapdog. How do you get to be so big in shipmanagement so quickly unless you are highly pleasing the suits?
It is high time the operating companies be held to account for pressuring masters and chiefs to do their dirtywork with axes always hanging over their necks.
I have been retired now for ten years but in the four decades I sailed, the pressure on me to conform to the dictates from the office grew steadily year upon year to the point where I felt I no longer commanded any ship but was myself only a placeholder required by regulations. The implentation of the ISM might have given masters their authority back but the operating companies found out the means to circumvent the intent of the Code and flag and port state authorities and class societies never once stepped in to check these companies abuses. Nothing makes me more glad than to just be done with the whole disaster the industry has become.
And on the lighter side, an incident from the mid 80’s. I was on a container ship on the Europe/USEC/USWC/Far east run. We had just called New York and Philly and a long maneuver through the C&D canal to Baltimore. Dundalk terminal. Chief engineer, me (sailing 1st) and my wife decided to go ashore for some shopping and a meal. Called a cab and and still remember how big the terminal is … cab came alongside and it took more than (guessing) 5 minutes to get to the gate. Just as we approached the gate, the cab suddenly stopped and 3 FBI agents (walkie talkie, guns and all) sprang out of nowhere! Cab driver was frightened out of his wits, got out and puts his hands up. Chief was sitting in front - big Dane, 6’4 or so and a tad roly poly around 300 lbs, and guess what - he stutters! He gets out and I was in the process of getting out and one of the FBI asks where we are headed. He stutters and says ‘MaMaMa Miami’! FBI on the radio, relays - boss, these guys are off to Miami. Meanwhile I had got out of the cab and say 'hold it guys, the ship’s next port of call is Miami and that we were just stepping out for a few hours and told them our ranks. Then as if nothing happened, they just said carry on! Still smile when I think about this …
Alas, unless the FBI can access phone records there will be little incriminating evidence. I remember being told to do something I didn’t agree with I asked if they could fax me (it was some time ago) with the request. The request was withdrawn.
Just part of the process.
They may instigate and find probable cause or not.
If I was surprised by anything, only it took them this long to show up. This is a big event.
Well in my FOC and “cover up and pathological” cultures kind of environment I have been working all my life, such “smart ass request” will be reciprocated by office “MOFUs” with "no future re-employment pay back scheme.
And with SS ( shit-short) time contracts, once You go on leave , your employment is terminated on arrival home airport.
Your re-employment depends on the “whim” of the office blokes, who may remember your smart ass tricks and tell You - there are no open vacancies for You.
You need 2-3 months of beach time to figure out, calling them is pointless and look for another job.
You need to buy yourself a couple of beauties like below in RADIO SHACK and this attatched to receiver, takes care 100% of short memories of “criminals” , who think they are very smart using sat com ph to frame You with their lousy money saving trics to impress bosses of their bosses.
Been there done that and believe me, there is nothing more beautiful and rewarding, then seeing the face and especially eyes of shore side slacker “mofu” , who thought himself smarter then You, when the ground has dissapeared under his feet, taking him down all the way to the abyss.
Tough times and tough environments create tough and unscrupulous men in such dog eat dog circus. And FOC masters are just right smack in the middle of it and need to survive and to do it , they must be wired better then agent 007. Simple as that. And under time charter the number of those who are eager to screw You is doubled.
Some here working in the comfort of J.A bubble and union protected environment have no effing idea how tough the outside world is. So protect it as long as You can .
Is that really what FOC mariners think of us Americans? That we live in some protected Jones Act bubble and life for us at sea is just rainbows and unicorns?
My God sir…you have no idea how wrong you are believing such clap.
The US maritime industry is fairly insulated from the rest of the maritime world. Unless one has actually been on both sides of that fence, one likely does not know as much about the other side as one thinks.
