Are you sure? I was involved in building 5 containerships for Horizon in S. Korea. Those ships were MSP qualified though the company never applied for MSP funds.
AFAIK Hoegh doesnāt have, or have had, any container ships in their fleet.(??)
Hapag. My bad.
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Yes Hapag-Lloyd make more sense:
https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/cargo-fleet/us-flag/route-finder.html/north_america.html
They presently have 6 ships in their US-flag feet, all of which have been purchased second hand and flagged in.
I have sufficient experience and I know that not every command will be a ābowl of cherriesā. However you are paid to do a job and while some are better than others if you donāt like the jobā¦donāt sign onā¦
Yea and they did it like 4 years ago too.
It is what I have been told by those with more knowledge on the ins and outs of the program than me with my company when I questioned why not build to our specifications and get the maximum life out of the hulls. I know very little about those Horizon builds but do remember them running them outside of MSP until the whole shop closed for good. It was a shame what was done to that company by the executives.
They did well for themselves. Thatās the shipping business, The majority of shipowners get into business with other peopleās money in order to make themselves very wealthy doing the least possible to stay legal. The shipowners have made themselves wealthy knowing they operate in a convoluted regulatory scheme which protects them from labor laws, seaworthiness and taxes. Been that way forever.
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It was something that I emphasised with the crew. The PSC inspector is forming his/her opinion of the shipās condition as he/she comes up the gangway.
More like as they look at the PSC inspection history on line before the ship even arrives.
I was Chief and 1 AE on the HOEGH NEW YORK as the ALLIANCE NEW YORK through PRESTIGE NEW YORK days. We had great Captains, great crews worked out a nice easy rhythm, went around the world a few times, had a lot of fun, but was a serious amount of work.
We visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,Jordan, UAE, Pakistan, and the Far East.Iād like to think we gave opportunities to a lot of good people I still remember fondly.
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You must have missed this post.
If a ship falls behind in maintenance for any reason, a period of high work-load, stretch of bad weather or just a lazy crew, the situation could could be thought of a āmaintenance debtā.
That type of maintenance debt would be relatively easily remedied provided it was well documented. If the schedule does not allow sufficient time to get caught up some shore-side assistance or riders could be provided.
But this situation is one where maintenance debt is not well documented. For example if parts are listed as spares but are in fact used parts and re-wrapped and carried in inventory as new or problems are covered with paint, otherwise somehow hidden and so forth.
Thatās a problem thatās much more difficult to quantify or communicate and likely will only be discovered by the crew while operating the ship. Itās not a problem that can be fixed by just calling in contractors.
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Conflicting info. Did the Alliance New York come new out of the yard under US flag, or did she actually sail as HUAL Detroit, Hoegh New York before being reflagged??:
FYI: Shipspotting has her as with that name but Norwegian callsign:
ALLIANCE NEW YORK - IMO 9295830 - CALLSIGN LAUA7
Iāve only sailed on one ship that had been recently reflagged.
The ship was in good condition. There was an issue with the inventory of some of the high-cost spare parts being below minimum but it was well documented in the spares lists.
In this instance the minimum acceptable standards were set by the charterer which was the same under both old and new flags.
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Thanks.
Equasis also confirms that she had the listed names:
https://www.equasis.org/EquasisWeb/restricted/ShipHistory?fs=ShipInfo
| Name of ship | Date of effect | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|
| HOEGH NEW YORK | since 01/06/2014 | IHS Maritime |
| Prestige New York | since 01/08/2010 | IHS Maritime |
| Alliance New York | since 01/09/2005 | IHS Maritime |
| Hoegh New York | since 01/04/2005 | IHS Maritime |
| Hual Detroit | since 01/04/2005 | IHS Maritime |
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In my ten year tenure as an ABS field surveyor, I found that flag was less of a factor for vessel condition than the operator/owner/charterer. That said, I was always wary of Cypriot flagged vessels. . . but I surveyed some very pristine Liberian/Panamanian/Marshall Island (etc.) flag vessels.
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I agree, thereās lot of factors at play here. Which party sets the standards and who pays the bills are two that are high on the list.
In fact it was the failure of the flag-state system to maintain minimum standards that led to the creation of the Port State Control (PSC) regime
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In my experience the captain canāt solve all problems just by wringing more work out of the crew. There will be cases where company assistance will be required.
In order to arrange for shore-side assistance for an issue it has to be understood and communicated. If the captain canāt explain what the problem is it will be very difficult to successfully resolve.
This may sound pedantic but it could be the issue. Captains donāt sign on, they are a representative of the company.
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