Sailors! Be Aware Of Legalised Piracy
Drugs were found clamped to the hull of Astro Saturn in October 2008 at Venezuela. The Master, Georgios Koutikas, and First Mate Athanasios Ntoustsias were arrested. Though the ship was released subsequently, the two are still in jail. They were found innocent by a lower court. However, later it was over ruled by a higher court. What smells of a high level conspiracy is that the people involved in the case, who found the crew innocent have “disappeared”, including Government officials.
Captain Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan of Hebei Spirit were sentenced following oil spill caused by out of control crane barge. The Master of ill fated tanker Prestige Captain Mangourtas was jailed for months, released on bail for 3 million Euros and European Human Right Court upholding the ruling.
We all are crying hoarse about piracy in Somalia, but are hardly talking about legalised piracy – committed by the politicians to further their interest. They appear to be more dangerous for the seafarers and shipping than the Somalian pirates.
If it goes on like this, it would be extremely difficult for the seafarers to escape from a system that is bent upon calling you a convict. Grounds for conviction could be a torch battery or a polythene bag floating in the water next to your ship, never mind whether you threw them or not, the very fact they are next to ship, you are guilty.
The numbers of cases where the seafarers have been victims of political and judicial activism are on the rise. Friends do you have any suggestion how should you proceed to reverse the trend?
Or else: “100 years back mostly convicts were sailors; tomorrow most sailors will be labeled convicts.”
Arun
It's time to have some legislation in place whereby no State Government is allowed to prosecute and criminalise any seafarer no matter what. They should only be allowed to impose a fine on the ship/ship-owner for any fault of the ships' crew. The ship-owners can get a suitable cover from their P&I Clubs for this purpose.
- Capt. B.S. Koli |
Should Owner/Manager Take More Proactive Steps In Projecting Importance of Shipping In Survival Of Mankind And Their Continued Prosperity?
A child grows up watching movies like Pirates of Caribbean; Treasure Island, combined with the old legacy, it leaves a negative influence in the subconscious mind of people. When they grow up to be decision-makers, their mind automatically works against the seafarers, even though they are not at fault.
Today lawmakers and the public are more likely to be more sympathetic towards cruelty/unfair treatment towards animals than towards seafarers. It requires a massive and sustained campaign by the shipping industry to counter-balance this effect.
Here I want to quote Mike Salthouse, Director of the ‘A' rated 95 million GT mutual, “As an industry, we have allowed a situation to develop in which the only time that shipping comes into the public eye is when disaster has struck. The public can thus hardly be blamed for having a poor image of the shipping industry - but it is this poor perception that lies at the root of many our problems.” Salthouse points out that the public at present expects politicians to penalise ship-owners and their crews whenever something goes wrong - despite their increasing dependence on shipping for day-to-day living. Seafaring will become an increasingly unpopular profession, increasing the difficulty of sourcing crew which, in turn, will have a knock-on effect in terms of casualties. Legislators will further penalise shipping interests and restrict ship-owners' liability rights.”
Therefore, in order to enhance the image of shipping, the industry needs to come together as one and show to the world the positive side of shipping. Let us act now before it is too late!
Arun
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