Report points fingers at ‘negligent’ Sea-Land crew

‘But they’re not guilty yet’ RAY SMUTS THE US Coast Guard investigation into the grounding of the Sea-Land Express off Cape Town last year has found “sufficient evidence of apparent negligence” to justify action against the master, chief mate and second mate of the 32 629gt container ship. A copy of the report has reached Captain Bill Dernier, executive manager, operations at the South African Maritime Safety Authority, and is in line with the conclusions reached by Samsa in compiling its own investigation. Last week, Dernier stressed: “Remember, they are not guilty yet. The Coast Guard is only saying in their opinion these guys committed these offences and should be charged.” Asked about the fate of the master, who declined to leave his cabin that stormy morning in August despite several communications by senior officers, Dernier said: “We were told informally he is longer employed by the company. (US Ship Management Inc). How accurate that is we do not know.” Also coming in for a lambasting was the National Ports Authority whose port control personnel interacted with the vessel’s officers during the storm. (No recorded version of their conversations was available as the equipment was inoperative at the time so Samsa had to make do with verbal evidence). “We nailed the NPA for not applying the VTS rules as per the regulations. The port control personnel had the right to tell the ship to leave and they didn’t.” Still miffed by the media frenzy and many innacuracies surrounding the Sea-Land Express at the time, Dernier told FTW: “What I find irritating and am going to fight for is that it takes two years to make a maritime investigation public in Australia whereas we come under pressure for a report from the media and the lawyers within six weeks.” The Sea-Land Express was awaiting a berth at the Cape Town container terminal to discharge 188 of her more than 1 000 containers when her anchor started dragging in 35 knot south westerly winds in the early hours of August 19, 2003. She went aground at about 6.30 a.m. Thereafter followed 19 days or arduous work by salvors Smit Marine who relied heavily on the the Dutch dredger HAM 316 to pull her free from her six-metre deep crevice on September 13.