https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/osv-crew-detained-in-angola-for-months-under-false-charges
Fuel selling/dealing has been going on for years in West Africa. Nothing new here.
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Yup itâs rife all over, allegedly most OSVs in the likes of Angola and the Republic of Congo do it. Itâs allegedly very big in the far east as well, in countries like Vietnam and Malaysia.
Itâs a problem because it makes people a lot more willing to take jobs with low wages so they can top it up to a reasonable level by illegally selling fuel, so people who are honest and donât want to break the law canât compete in wage demands with those who do.
These guys were released without charge:
http://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/after-months-of-ordeal-osv-crew-free-to-leave-angola/
No comment on the fact that Tidewaterâs local management does NOTHING to assist their employees during their ordeal?:
Again, nothing much happen before it becomes an issue in the media.
Would this have been different if any or all of the crew members were American, or West Europeans?
Would the US and/or any West European Embassies have had any more âluckâ in getting them fair treatment?
So true, but what about the largest OSV owner/manager in the world, for whom these people worked?
Donât they have at least a MORAL, if not legal, obligation to assist in a situation like this?
OK I know the answer to that question; âMoral???, what moralâ???
Yes they were probably hired through Crewing Agents and not direct employees, but Tidewater are the defacto Operator/Manager of the âSutton Tideâ.
Shipping is a globalized industry and it is a race to the bottom with regards to terms and conditions of employment. If one company drops itâs standards in order to save a bit of money, then competitors have to follow suit in order to stay competitive.
Tidewaterâs high powered attorneys will most probably have closed every single legal loophole that could lead them to have any liability with regards to incidents like this.
Thanks heaven there are still people in shipping that have a moral compass, although they may be outnumbered by Turdwaterâs ilke.
Thatâs a huge problem with the industry in more ways than just terms of employment. Standards of construction are affected by the same downratchet.
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Iâve never worked in this region, but have a few friends that have. They made it sound like you were expected to sell fuel and if you donât, that would create more problems than not.
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Thatâs what Iâve heard. When the client rep says âgo pump X amount of diesel to my bargeâ you donât really have a choice. The officeâs view was âdo what is necessary to stay on contract, donât be greedyâ.
After having a couple of drinks I decided to tell you a story of sludge. You all well know, that besides the burning of medium or heavy fuel oil probably 1 - 1,5 % of the daily consumed amount goes to the sludge tank. It might be through purifiers, trough filters, by draining of settling and service tanks or by venting preheaters etc. There are many ways to fill a sludge tank. The problem was ( because I am retiredâŚ) to get rid of that stuff. In the states we paid for two truckloads appr. 10.000 several years ago. In Australia I got a box of whine for a truckload of appr. 20 cbm. In Europe you had a limit of appr. 30 cbm free of charge and the remaining stuff had to be paid for. Well, small vessels never had problems but bigger container vessels with a daily consumption of 150 - 230 cbm/d ( up to 60.000 barrels/day) could easily reach a financial margin where the management started to asked - Why ???
Being in the trade route between China and US ( Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver )
gave you a huge advantage . The Chinese paid for that stuff. It started with 10 per ton and went up to § 100 per ton over the years. While all the deals were made between Captain and Chief the real amount was never relayed to the crew but everybody knew about that and barbecues or a new guitar or video player or TV for the crew mess dimmed upcoming questions. Until the Captains got greedy. Some of you might not like to hear that and not all of you are like that but there was a change in behaviour when the sludge price in China went up. I speak only of China.
Since the Chief had to provide the slugde and had the knowledge to improve the quality with fuel it suddenly was a matter of : On this vessel we received so and so much and here we have less - what are you doing ??? The Chief Engineer was judged by the quality and amount of sludge he produced over a round trip of 70 days. But he was not judged by the crew - only by the Captain. I can tell you what greed makes out of decent guys. Well, finally the crew leaked the procedures to the company, provided graphic evidence and it ended as always.
Only the smartest guys came out unmolested. Can you blame the poor buggers in West Africa for making some side money ?
Yes selling fuel is rampant in some parts of the world, notably West Africa and some parts of S.E.Asia. Iâm very familiar with this and have been involved in finding ways to stop it.
I was engaged by one Oilco. to investigate fuel stealing on an operation in Papua, Indonesia, where I found one little tug that was tied up alongside a grounded barge as standby vessel and standing dry half the time, but reporting fuel consumption eqv. to steaming at full speed 24/7.
Another Oilco, this time operating in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia,found that abt. 25% of the fuel supplied to the boats and swamp rigs hired by them âevaporatedâ.
I was engaged to train their Marine Inspectors in how to detect and stop the theft by explaining the different methods used, especially on the fuel supply LCTs.
It was a waste of time, since most of them had been engaged in the racket for years and probably knew more ways then me.
Colouring the diesel green only resulted in every truck and boat in the area running on green fuel.
Nobody find anything wrong with Tidewater abandoning their crews to their faith in a country not known for itâs fair system of Law enforcement?? I know they were not Americans, but still???
Sounds like the US Gulf in the old, old days. . . .
It was less dangerous over here.
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Tidewater is substandard company in every aspect of maritime business this is why Tdw stock went down from fifty something to 0.70 $ aper share.
Worked for like fourteen years and I know what Iâm talking about
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That story is true. The Vietnamese crew all declared that the Russian master had decided to go for a swim. He supposedly took a bigger cut than normal.
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