[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

05th April - National Maritime day.

Thank you for sharing. Very well said. Coming to fishing boats ie the small ones in Indian waters - based on what I have heard around the family table from my father {Indian Navy} and two first cousins {Merchant Navy, both Masters, now retired} fishing boats in Indian waters are like the two-wheelers on Indian roads. If you bump into them then you the much bigger vessel are in trouble regardless. And the fishing boats, even when not with their nets cast make no effort to stay away from the path of an ongoing ship which has no capacity to stop or turn easily. At night it is worse, much worse.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

And the fishing boats, even when not with their nets cast make no effort to stay away from the path of an ongoing ship which has no capacity to stop or turn easily. At night it is worse, much worse...

..and sometimes, they will be killed!

Hope you all are aware of Italian Marine Case, where the Italian marines opened fire killing two fishermen from Kerala, and the killers still remain free, I believe.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/76892393.cms

Sorry, off topic, and not to pick on you sir, just thought to read this along.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

..and sometimes, they will be killed!

Hope you all are aware of Italian Marine Case, where the Italian marines opened fire killing two fishermen from Kerala, and the killers still remain free, I believe.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/76892393.cms

Sorry, off topic, and not to pick on you sir, just thought to read this along.

@balenoed, More than aware of the Italian case. That deliberate firing (whatever the cause) is different from the navigation difficulties being referred to in my post. Anyways now we are several nautical miles off course. :-)

[sparky@home]

Fishing boats are a danger to navigation, but the problem is with the ships too, many a times, especially in the night watch, the duty officers, I have seen have a habit of closing in on the Indian west coast (mostly on voyages to the far east etc) for talking on their mobiles, (especially after the master has made his night visit on the bridge) this has resulted in collision with fishing boats. I have seen very large vessels sailing so close to the coast, throwing all caution to the wind, just to take a telephone call.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you for sharing. Very well said. Coming to fishing boats ie the small ones in Indian waters - based on what I have heard around the family table from my father {Indian Navy} and two first cousins {Merchant Navy, both Masters, now retired} fishing boats in Indian waters are like the two-wheelers on Indian roads. If you bump into them then you the much bigger vessel are in trouble regardless. And the fishing boats, even when not with their nets cast make no effort to stay away from the path of an ongoing ship which has no capacity to stop or turn easily. At night it is worse, much worse.

Well said. Its a nightmare.
Amongst all the traffic areas of the world, including Singapore straits and English Channel, the worst according to me is the fishing boats near the CJK and Ningbo area of China. At any given times, your Radar is absolutely full and no space to move.

[Motard_Blr]

The next drama has started:
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/...899131607.html

The ship has been detained until the owners cough up compensation to Egypt. I really pity the crew who are stuck on the ship.

Egypt being in a monopoly position as the owner and operator of the Suez canal, will probably never be successfully sued for the mistakes of their pilots.

[ruzbehxyz]

Evergreen confirms Ever Given arrested pending $916m claim including $300m for loss of reputation.

Taiwanese liner Evergreen confirmed on Wednesday that the 20,388 teu Ever Given has been arrested by a court in Egypt this week. The giant, near full ship is in the Great Bitter Lake with a crew of 25 onboard, weeks after it ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal. The ship is operated by Evergreen and owned by Japan’s Shoei Kisen Kaisha.

According to the vessel’s insurer, the UK P&I Club, Shoei Kisen has been hit with a $916m claim from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Evergreen stated in a release that the claim includes $300m claim for a salvage bonus and $300m for “loss of reputation”.

“During the meeting between the shipowners and SCA on April 12, 2021, no consensus was reached as SCA’s claims are largely unsupported and lack any detailed justification. The following day (13th April), SCA immediately filed an application to arrest the Vessel and this has been granted by the Court,” Evergreen stated in its release issued on Wednesday.

General Average has been declared with shippers very unclear when they might get their cargoes onboard the ship.

For its part, the UK P&I Club said it was disappointed with the SCA’s decision to arrest the vessel.

“The SCA has not provided a detailed justification for this extraordinarily large claim,” the insurer stated this week.

The vessel’s classification society, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), completed surveys on on the ship 10 days ago and issued a certificate of fitness to allow the vessel to move from Great Bitter Lake.

The SCA is expected to issue its report into why the vessel came to be lodged on the eastern bank of the canal on Thursday, while the ship’s registry, Panama, will take many more months to issue its full accident investigation report.

Source: https://splash247.com/evergreen-conf...of-reputation/

[TrackDay]

Does this mean the entire crew will remain on board the vessel for the duration of this entire ordeal ? Or will they be allowed to leave the ship and Stay at a hotel or similar accommodation ? What are the Maritime laws regarding this ? It seems unfair, since most of them especially the crew who work on other parts of the ship have to stay back and endure this for really no fault of theirs. The asset (here the ship & cargo) is still in the Suez waters as a collateral & besides Evergreen will definitely use this canal in the future.

[RJK]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

The veracity of the below statement of facts is not known but is being discussed a lot in maritime legal circles. I am NOT AT ALL surprised by this.

From my own experience, I fully agree with the high handedness of Pilots at Suez when denied the GIFTS. Some could be so choosy that once I didn't have Benson & Hedges cigarettes but Egyptian Pilot insisted on them only.
In another instance I had arab crew & the pilot started talking to them in Arabic, when I protested that as the Master of vessel I am unable to understand the instructions being given by him, he behaved as if I was not even present on the bridge. I quietly removed the helmsman & took over the manual steering and he had to revert to English.

I never have had such situation with Panama Canal Pilots & in fact once an Oriental pilot brought chocolates for crew, as the crossing was on Christmas eve.
BTW, if anyone is interested to watch live footage of ships crossing at PANAMA CANAL, they can visit: https://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

Regards.

Not surprising, at all. Having worked with a lot of Egyptians in oil drilling I have seen their cavalier and delegation attitude. They will take responsibility for NOTHING! I’m sure there are better guys but I did not come across any of them in drilling, in fact most of them I encountered were slimy, shady folks. I don’t mean to offend anyone but these are my experiences, not just a single. I’m sure captains of international ships say the same about Indian customs and pilots while docking in Indian ports (which could be true too!).

I can’t imagine the plight of the Captain of the ship, having read subsequent posts in this thread. I really hope he gets all the needed support and possibly government intervention if required instead of being made the scapegoat in entirety.

I understand the captain is solely responsible for the ship but no one signs up for this kind of hostility. On the other hand, the rift over a few boxes of cigarettes could be avoidable, I’m sure the ship owners, charters & managers are aware of the ground realities and would look the other way for small things as cigarettes, despite the non-corruption policy. In principle, we all agree that the captain played by the book And is absolutely correct but there could be more than what meets the eye? Demands could possibly have been more than just the cigarettes.

Full strength and support to the captain and crew until an independent and unbiased report comes out.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Does this mean the entire crew will remain on board the vessel for the duration of this entire ordeal ? Or will they be allowed to leave the ship and Stay at a hotel or similar accommodation ? What are the Maritime laws regarding this ? It seems unfair, since most of them especially the crew who work on other parts of the ship have to stay back and endure this for really no fault of theirs. The asset (here the ship & cargo) is still in the Suez waters as a collateral & besides Evergreen will definitely use this canal in the future.

The ship is arrested as per local court order from an Egyptian court. This means the ship cannot sail out from Egypt. Crew on board is subject to permission from canal authorities.

At present the canal authorities allowed two crew members to sign off (Rank and reasons unknown).
Source: https://www.marineinsight.com/shippi...l-authorities/

[Jeroen]

I just came across this little video. The author makes some excellent points I believe

https://youtu.be/Ty-m4pm8oog

[ruzbehxyz]

26th April 2021.

Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen Kaisha has filed an appeal before the Ismalia court in Egypt against the arrest of Ever Given and its cargo.

Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen Kaisha has filed an appeal before the Ismalia court in Egypt against the arrest of Ever Given and its cargo.

As reported earlier, the containership was arrested on April 13, as the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and the shipowners failed to reach a deal on the compensation claim for the ship’s grounding in the canal.

Namely, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is seeking $ 916 million in damages for the costs incurred by the ship’s blockage of the waterway.

According to the UK P&I Club, the appeal was filed on April 22, 2021.

“The appeal against the arrest was made on several grounds, including the validity of the arrest obtained in respect of the cargo and the lack of supporting evidence for the SCA’s very significant claim,” the insurer said.

The appeal will be heard on 4 May 2021.

The UK P&O Club said that the appeal was made as it ‘has not been possible to resolve this matter without the continued involvement of the Egyptian courts.’

Meanwhile, the talks between the two sides on the compensation claim are continuing.

“The ‘Ever Given’ interests will continue to negotiate in good faith with the SCA to reach an amicable resolution. We are encouraged that the SCA recently allowed two of the vessel’s crew members to return home for compassionate reasons, whilst the vessel remains under detention,” the London-based insurer said.

As informed, twenty-three of the 25 crew onboard at the time of the grounding remain onboard and are being supported by two additional seafarers who have joined the vessel. All 25 crew onboard are Indian nationals.

Source: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/ever...cY3oOaF5r5wShc

[arindam.dino]

Came across this in case anybody is interested.
P.S Has a lot of numbers associated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw-j0KAJg2w

[ruzbehxyz]

Dear mods.

The title of the thread should be changed.

The Ever Given is freed from the canal bank, but is still stuck in the canal. The ship is anchored in Bitter lake, at the centre of the canal and stuck, not physically but by law. The actual thing starts now, as the case has gone to court and various parties are involved. Such cases can take more than a year to be resolved. The good part is that the canal authorities have allowed crew change to take place. Three more crew were allowed to be relieved last week. Hope for the best.

[ruzbehxyz]

Update on 22nd May 2021.

An appeals chamber at Ismailia Economic Court held hearings on Saturday over the ship's detention, which the SCA is seeking to uphold following an appeal by the owner, as well as the SCA's financial claim.

Lawyers representing Shoei Kisen argued that the SCA had been at fault for allowing the ship to enter the waterway amid bad weather, Ahmed Abu Ali, a member of the legal team, told Reuters, adding that the authority failed to prove any fault by the ship.

Recordings from the ship that were presented to the court showed disagreements between SCA pilots and its control centre over whether it should enter the canal, Abu Ali said.

Lawyers for Shoei Kisen said the ship should have been accompanied by at least two tug boats suitable for the ship's size "but this didn't happen", he added.

The SCA did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but it has publicly denied being at fault.

Source: The Maritime Post.