The FBI is aboard the DALI this morning

[spowiednick]

Sir. We are drifting off topic here.and the topic is very ineteresting and worth having
.So may be You open another one we can talk about it. First of all I said

@spowiednick

Some here

2. Do You now abt any other forum like gCaptain FORUM which is UNIQUE!!! where FOC guys are talking like You Guys here. .You have opened a book that everybody can read on line.

Lets start with wages: Your A/B gets more per year then a master of FOC dry cargo vessel and same yearly wages like the FOC master of LNG carier. So open pls new thread and tell me - the naive and unaware how bad it is in J.A. bubble, under Union protection, under Stars and Stripes Banner and with your contracts of employments compared with FOC toilet papers.
Once You are done telling me You will be justified to call me naive IDIOT and i will change my nickname then to : FOC-IDIOT permanently .

Do we have a deal Sir???

But do not forget I have read ( not all) but a lot from Your UNIQUE BOOK and it remains open for study . What book do you have about FOC ?? - I may be Your book and may be there are others here watching who care to join Cheers :

Addendum: Pls accept my appologies for tainting Your valuable Topic with my FOC shit . I am really sorry. Forgive me pls.

[Old_school]

@spowiednick

Addendum: Pls accept my appologies for tainting Your valuable Topic with my FOC shit

Thank you…let’s not start going down that path and stick to the subject of this thread which is if the FBI and USCG have discovered serious safe navigation deficiencies which were known aboard before the DALI left the quay but were not reported to the USCG which is clearly a Federal crime. It certainly will not be going happily for the master and chief now however if there is enough evidence pointing to Singapore or Copenhagen directing the ship to not report, how can the long arm of the Justice Department reach? USCG can ban other ships managed by Synergy or owned/chartered by Maersk from calling at US ports. This could get ugly if the Feds want to make it so.

Forgot to add that the ship can be seized by the Feds as well and they are not required to release it even if a bond is posted.

[LI_Domer]

I’d hate to be on an email chain telling them not to report deficiencies, or directing the crew to sail anyway. Feds could compel a foreign person to testify. Does not mean they will appear however, but then there are countermeasures if that happens. Will all come down to what Investigators and/or prosecutors would want to do.

[Hogsnort]

Repealing the Limitation of Liabilities wanted by some of the litigants in this case opens a whole new can of worms.

[Old_school]

Yes, here potential damages might go into many tens of billions beyond the physical destruction of the bridge and the lives lost. You have vast economic damages to businesses in or who use the port, workers whose employment is now suspended for the duration…the list is a long one and is gross negligence is found are there not punitive damages which can be levied?

Likely won’t be as costly as the DEEPWATER HORIZON was to BP but I do hope Maersk does get bled very heavily over this if their fingerprints are found on what happened three weeks ago.

[McGourthyClone]

The anti Maersk fan fiction isn’t all that interesting, but I guess you never know.

[spowiednick]

Let me begin with my most favourite opening :
I MAY BE WRONG OF COURSE!!!

Having said that, let me explain why I think Capt of M/V Dali will most probably end up in a “HOLE” behind bars.

---

1. Item 1 MARPOL
   Quote:
   Protocol I

Article II When to make reports

(1) The report shall be made when an incident involves:
(c) damage, failure or breakdown of a ship of 15 metres in length or above which:

(i) affects the safety of the ship; including but not limited to collision, grounding, fire, explosion, structural failure, flooding and cargo shifting; or

(ii) results in impairment of the safety of navigation; including but not limited to, failure or

breakdown of steering gear, propulsion plant, electrical generating system, and essential

shipborne navigational aids. END QUOTE

Item 2) American P&I Club – Guide : Welcome to USA
QUOTE:

subject : Notice of hazardous condition

Summary : if there is a “hazardous condition” on board a vessel or caused by a vessel, the owner, agent, operator, or person in charge must immediately report it to the nearest USCG Sector Office or Group Office.

Other relevant guidance/references:

The regulation does not specify what a notice of hazardous condition should contain. However, it is best practice to provide minimum information as to the vessel’s name, location, time, date, parties involved, nature of hazardous condition, name of USCG personnel who have been spoken with and means by which notice was provided, including phone number, etc., as applicable. END QUOTE

Collection of evidence is a must . Best wire yourself better then 007.(author rem)

Other:

QUOTE ; Vessel Notice of Arrival or Departure (NOAD

Summary:
For vessels entering US waters, as per the United States 33 CFR Part 160, Subpart C, US

and foreign vessels bound for the US must file a Notice of Arrival/Departure (NOAD).

As per 33 CFR 160.212: If your voyage time is 96 hours or more, then you must submit an NOA at least 96 hours before entering the port or place of destination. If your voyage time is less than 96 hours, then you must submit an NOA before departure but at least 24 hours before arriving at the port or place of destination.The NOAD must contain all of the information items specified in Table 160.206. The table may be accessed by clicking “HERE!!!”

Other relevant guidances/references Further information on submitting NOADs and eNOADS can be found by clicking here. END QUOTE

What is there under “HERE” ???

” (6) Operational condition of equipment required by §164.35 of this chapter . ”

The above mentioned guide should be hot ironed on the forehead of every tech superintendent , master, cheng if they dare to venture with their ship into hostile territory like US, despite the fact , that You are VERY WELCOME

Should be enough but

Item 3)
ISM code !!!

QUOTE: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. END QUOTE

Was DPA on vacation all the time??

Above is a nice ISM manager bail out, on condition the master did not take measures HIGHLY recommended by the agent 007 what He should .

What about acting under “duress” ?? , like intensive almost debilitating commercial pressure from the Big Blue Operator?? .

Even if master reported such to his Principal “the Manager” , chances they would support him or act in anyway were minimal, as for them having a client like Big Blue as time charterer, looks fantastic on their chartering “resume” and is like being anointed by the maritime Pope . ( I have lived through experiences like that) .

But then, insurance fellow may ask the “informed ” Manager – what has happened to the old “good faith ” principle? – we should know!!!.

I do not think so , they will admit having any knowledge about anything whatsoever.

What else?

Item 4) Seaworthiness!!! .

Well leaving safe heaven ( port), knowing your ship is not in seaworthy condition is to convert yourself voluntarily from Master Mariner to Master “The criminal” . Simple as that.

In conclusion:

May be the master will not walk “the green mile” but i will bet a single malt, He has got a good chance to walk into the “hole” . Master of Zim Mexico III got one life terminated ( due to technical glitch) , here the ratio is 6: 1 .

With the current trend in criminalisation of masters and crews , the future looks bleak and do not forget there is an election year there, what reminds me of Hebei Spirit horror story. And The Mayor of Baltimore may be needs urgently another 100 mil $ . fund from Owners . Who knows?

But HR folks and crewing agents should not worry . There is still Mongolia or may be Amazon forests, where they can find enthusiast willing to take command and be future masters.

Promotion from a single horse to 100 000 HP horses is a very tempting thing.

[Old_school]

Let me simplify this. It happened on the Navigable Waters of US thus 46CFR4.03-1 applies which reads

Marine casualty or accident

means –

(a) Any casualty or accident

involving any vessel other than

a public vessel that –

(1) Occurs upon the navigable

waters of the United

States, its territories or

possessions;

(2) Involves any United States

vessel wherever such

casualty or accident occurs,

or

(3) With respect to a foreign

tank vessel operating in

waters subject to the

jurisdiction of the United

States, including the

Exclusive Economic Zone

(EEZ), involves significant

harm to the environment or

material damage affecting

the seaworthiness or

efficiency of the vessel.

(b) The term “marine casualty or

accident” applies to events

caused by or involving a vessel

and includes, but is not limited

to, the following:

(1) Any fall overboard, injury,

or loss of life of any

person.

(2) Any occurrence involving a

vessel that results in –

(i) Grounding;

(ii) Stranding;

(iii) Foundering;

(iv) Flooding;

(v) Collision;

(vi) Allision;

(vii) Explosion;

(viii) Fire;

(ix) Reduction or loss of a

vessel’s electrical

power, propulsion, or

steering capabilities;

(x) Failures or occurrences,

regardless of cause,

which impair any aspect

of a vessel’s operation,

components, or cargo;

(xi) Any other circumstance

that might affect or

impair a vessel’s

seaworthiness,

efficiency, or fitness for

service or route; or

(xii) Any incident involving

significant harm to the

environment.

(b)(2)(x)&(xi) are the applicable regulations in play here because the required reporting was to happen when first experienced and before getting underway.

Failing the make such required reports is a Federal criminal offence found in 46USC.

If you want to dive deeper into this please read United States Coast Guard NVIC 01-15

Of course not reporting a potential defect involving the seaworthiness of a ship can be done provided you escape US jurisdiction before anything bad happens because of the defect and I likely believe Synergy and Maersk were telling the master and chief of the DALI that is what they expected them to do. They complied and their lives and careers are basically now toast.

[spowiednick]

@Old_school

I likely believe Synergy and Maersk were telling the master and chief of the DALI that is what they expected them to do. They complied and their lives and careers are basically now toast.

You may believe .Why not.
Once on arrival Norfolk my echosounder conked out. Via Agent I have arranged the service man. He checked all and concluded the device is kaput and he could not fix it before dep. due to lack of spares. I aksed him abt his opinion regarding reporting this defficiency to USCG and He strongly recommended to do it.

So I called Managers Tech DPT and then Ops Dpt ( sort of public relations and dealing with CP and client issues) . Both SOBs sugested not to call USCG. being afraid it would stop the vsl resulting in off hire.

I argued to call and consult Flag |State (Liberia) and get temporary exemption till next port of call -NYK and get spares there to fix it. They still insisted to cover up.

So i called USCG via agent , they came on board , listened to my full story and gave me a permit /exemption to sail to NYK with inoperable echosounder. I had a dillema wether to inform managers or not about it but decided to clammy up.
All was fixed well in NYK . Informed Local USCG by email with repair report attched as per Norfolk officer instruction , Finito de la musica .

But the Norfolk Agent presenting his disbursment/invoice to Managers for extra services mentioned USCG visit arrangement . And few days later all hell broke loose.

I was lashed like an effing schoolboy for not following Office instructions and advise. I ignored it but was pissed off immensly. Now immagine this happening to a rookie master. This is how commercial pressure works.

[spowiednick]

@Old_school

They complied and their lives and careers are basically now toast.

Now imagine their next job interview.

" Q. so tell me Captain about your strenghts ??
A. Well , Madam I am strong enough to bring the Baltimore bridge down
Q. WHAT!!!
Q. Next please !!! "

[Old_school]

So basically there it is now and how it is likely going to play out. The DALI had serious issues with electrical power distribution likely while alongside but possibly before entry. If they were not new issues strike one for not reporting it in the NOA.

The problems remained while dockside but no harm no foul because they were not underway however that doesn’t matter regarding reporting the problems so strike two.

Now the load out is complete and it is last possible chance to tell the USCG we have some issues you might want to know about but I am well certain now commercial pressures were immense on the master “advising” him to not report, to get underway and we will deal with this after you arrive in Sri Lanka. But the ship didn’t make it more than a couple of miles before everything came crashing down on the master’s head so that is strike three and you’re not going anywhere for many years!

Of course we have a pretty good idea now what happened after the last line was dropped but what we don’t know is how much commercial pressure was applied on the master and who was applying it? Synergy will no doubt be found guilty here but will Maersk’s fingerprints be found at the crime scene as well? I can well imagine Maersk is already bribing Synergy to take the bullet for the team because if it does fall on Maersk as telling the master to break the law, I do not believe any court in the US will protect Maersk from ultimate liability.

Good!

[spowiednick]

@Old_school

Now the load out is complete and it is last possible chance to tell the USCG

Yes indeed but it is not last possible chance . The vessel is cleared , awaiting Pilot but in case of Big Blue the Pilot could already be on board 30-60 min before end of cargo ops.

The stevedores left , Agent is gone . Meantime the duty off is prepping the bridge , testing the engine , starting the B.T. -testing it , doing check list , crew is on stand by on stations.

I come on the bridge , welcome warmly the Pilot , we do master -pilot exch , consult the pilot undocking plan , blah, blah . Then I take him on the bridge wing , where He asks me the same fundamental question I heard in US hundreds of times:

"Capt are U aware of any defficiencies on your ship ? "

and then I tell him YES SIR.

And this is the last moment you can show the middle finger to unscrupulous Managers as Your clean slate is more important, then effing criminals financial gains. With clean slate one will always get a job, better paid or worse but will get.

The moment You are ready to let go lines CL 26 as per below kicks in , then I am the King Kong .

You may peddle any BS to furious managers ; that something poped up during pre departure testing , that BT coughed , some reefers farted - U NAME IT . You are in doubt , You have the right and obligation to check again to be 100% sure.

The Pilot will very calmly grab the VHF and call USCG and i will offer him some danish cookies and coffee blinking with my left eye only.
And He would understand immediately what is going on. .

Big Blue willl shrug it’s shoulders, their Agent will make some inquiries and both will start clocking the offhire time immediately , 35 K usd or much more per day and pro rata, plus cost of pilot and tugs on stand by .

This is how easy it is done.

The Owners can not fire you for this, as You have a valid short-shit time toilet paper contract, and You are protected thus by Resolution A(443) as per below. But U already know, that when on leave they will not call U any more .

Time charterer must be very carefull re pressure. Maersk Central in Copenhagen will never do it directly - they go through Owners/Managers .

But You have Mersk America Division , You have Maersk |Mumbai champions and those guys felt arrogant enought to push in the past.

We do not know if Dali is under Maersk America commericial control or Maersk Mumbai or may be both .

I have inserted some fragments of CP to show ,who is reponsible for what. But we do not know nothing about

a) vessel description CL , which is always attached to main CP and is extremely !!!important to Master/Cheng/Choff

b) we have not idea about the RAIDER CLAUSES , which are also very important and even more important then the main CP as some of the Raider CL take precedence over the main CP clauses.

So we better wait and see first NTSB preliminary report . I think so.

How Big Blue other devisions are pushing ??- well , may be next time, when I am in a ratting mood as You know, every maritime story starts with a toss of rum and " it ain’t no shit …

Cheers

[Old_school]

Well considering that the pilot would know the law if you told him there were problems with your ship he would then want to know if they’ve been reported to the Coast Guard because they are the ultimate authority. Of course the pilot would refuse to take the ship away from the dock without a permit to proceed by the Coast guard but why wait so long and not make the report in a more timely fashion instead of at that absolute last second?

[Old_school]

On the question of whether the ship is managed from Mumbai or the US I can rest assured tell you that it has to be from Mumbai because if you look at Synergy’s website you will see that although they are headquartered in Singapore their main operations are in India and their staff is almost top the bottom Indian nationals

I wouldn’t be surprised if Synergy wasn’t something that Maersk fostered to be that Fall Guy should anything like this happen? And being that Synergy is for the most part has nothing in the United States there is not much that the Justice Department can do to them so it’s very convenient for Maersk if Synergy becomes the entity that is ultimately charged

[spowiednick]

The answer is simple. When You as master do it in port , then You do it via charterers agent .
Then it is clear for all involved, that You are a snitch , that ratted on them and You are done .

When You do the circus like described above , it is the Pilot who informed USCG and depending on who is in Managers office from the technical side , there is a slim, very slim chance, they buy Your BS .

As You may say, the Pilot on the bridge got concerned abt sth , got nervous and started pushing You with precise and penetrating questions . That You panicked .

" What i was supposed to do?? Lie to him when he saw it all and then go straight to jail for lying???

Master answer to the question mentioned above is binding and stay assured it may be picked up by VDR which in case of accident will be analysed.

[retdmarineengineer]

This commercial pressure you all describe on vessels on chartered vessels not to report serious incidents is really scary. Don’t know how rampant this is.

[yacht_sailor]

Or they are very angry you loaded a ship with reefer containers when the power wasn’t working right, so now you are risking the cargo unless you put all the containers back on land and plug them in while you repair the ship.
Heads you lose, tails you lose

[spowiednick]

This is in yoiur job description not even written in a fine print. You need years of experience to figure it out yourself

[ombugge]

Are there any PROOF that there were serious problems with the power supply, either before, during or after loading, in Baltimore? (Not news media reporting from dubious sources)

Do we KNOW what type of maintenance, tests, or inspections that was carried out during the stay in Baltimore? (Not guessing, or assuming)

Was a power supply problem (if that should be proven as the root cause of this incident) known BEFORE departure, or did it occure spontaneously AFTER departure? (Any proof, one way or the other?)

So far I have seen a lot of educated guesses and assumption here on this forum and a lot of dubious speculation and unrelated reporting in the media, but not much known facts.

[spowiednick]

Scary??? You have not heard or read the worst yet .And I am just warming up. .

But I do not know how many times have I used the term " cover up and pathological cultures" .I have not cooked up the term. It is from Gard P&I club magazine and that means, P&I clubs are very well aware of this .

That is my experience .May be other’s work was on the bed of roses. FOC provides a very good environment for all kinds of abuse and ballancing on the edge of criminality and dog eat dog system.

You are a cheap potato on the market, you have not any cntractual protection except A 443 ) but it expires when your contract if finished and when U are on leave. Your re-employment depends on a “WHIM” of the office blokes , they use it as leverage to get your submission as they know You have to bring home some bacon, pay credits , educaate kids and save some money for the old age.

Many , especially the young generation seccumb to the pressure. And how many read the “Bussiness and Law for the ship master” ,Chartering and shipping terms" , " commercial management for ship masters" , " The ship master business companion" , and my favourite bible below ,

I have a library where only the most important items are worth abt 10 K British pounds. THE MOST IMPORTANT written by the best legal contemporary minds.

The literature covering the issue of Capt/|Master Mariner as a person and institution is at least 3000 A4 pages and that figure i i think is very conservative. .

Now compare it to a pitiful descriptions in ISM code

This is PATHETIC how the immage and former “glory” of this position has been reduced , belittled and raped by the effing shore side slackers.

Do You know how many of the masters I relieved knew where their Time Charter party was , or where is their booklet with P&I agents world wide??? Or who is their H&M insurance Club , or whether he knows who is taking care of " damage and collision with fix and floting objects " insurance??? .You would be surprised.

I could rattle on and on abt this but what is the point ??

For almost 40 years |I have observed and WITNESSED live show of the systematic and systemic breeding of SILENT AND OBEDIENT LAMBS in my FOC environment , that could be blackmailed, manipulated , steered and later on scapegoated and dumped like a bag of rotten potatoes.

Master in this environment were converted to mere FETCH DOGS . We are stray dogs without the “master” .

I still remember times, when the Owner - a person in body and blood took me to his office during pre-trip briefing , closed the doors saying :

" you are my shepherd dog and i pay You to take care of my assets -do you understand that ?? If this crowd over there- pointing to office people , will cause You any problem , here is my business card with contact numbers and You DARE NOT, not to call me 24/7 and I will deal with them and support You.Do You undestand Captain. ??"

This guy was Dr Schulte ,who promoted me after 6 months as chmate on one of his cont vsls and I was a rookie master, thinking then I am participating in something big called world shipping .

This master paradise finished , when managements and corporations stepped in and took over . I used this card only two times and some heads were chopped off - BUT NOT MINE.

This is when You know sombody stands behind You , when You are a Master and You are quite happy and enjoy enormously your "shepherd dog " possition.

But it is HISTORY now and beeing fucked by shore side slckers is master’s chief preoccupation. And the stories of masters overriding authority one can stick deeply into where the sun does not shine .IT is bullshit.

But it is my experience . Surely some here lived and worked better.

Cheers