More on the mt PAVIT (IMO 9016636)

As quoted in today's Times of India:-

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Pavit-set-adrift-near-city-on-purpose/articleshow/9510708.cms

MUMBAI: The drifting of Panama-flagged MT Pavit to the Mumbai coast still remains a mystery but experts in the maritime industry feel the vessel may have been brought close to Mumbai on purpose and set adrift.

Veeresh Malik, expert on shipping and marine security issues, said, "There had to be some sort of intervention to ensure the ship stayed afloat. MT Pavit is not even in decrepit condition. This means the vessel remained afloat by way of tow or because some basic repairs were carried out."

The ship was reported to have sunk after it was abandoned off the Oman coast on June 29. The crew members of the abandoned vessel, which ran aground at Versova beach on July 31, were rescued by a US naval ship and brought to Kandla by Jag Pushpa.

Pointing out that the "winds and currents at this time of the year would not push the ship southwards down from Omani coast" towards India, Malik said, "It should have drifted towards the Gulf of Kutch. The fact that it moved in the direction of Mumbai leads to suspicion that it did get some assistance."

It is implausible that an abandoned vessel can drift for miles without being detected, especially in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. "If a ship is unmanned, then it would not transmit any recognition signals on its AIS (automatic identification signals). However, if a ship transmits its AIS, then somebody has to be tracking its movements. This is the standard operating procedure for owners and insurers."

A member of the ship breakers' association said, "After MT Pavit was abandoned, there were no reports to indicate that its owners/insurers were trying to have it towed or repaired. It is the moral duty of the shipping company to save the life of crew members and salvage the ship."

He said MT Pavit's owners could have easily arranged for it to be towed to the Oman coast for repairs. "It is a mystery why the owner did not do this as the hull of the ship is in good condition and there is nothing to indicate a fuel leak."

The mv PAVIT - yet another ship founders off Mumbai, a derelict this time!

http://www.moneylife.in/article/the-pavitmdashyet-another-attempt-to-hit-mumbai/18556.html

The Pavit—yet another attempt to hit Mumbai?
August 01, 2011 03:29 PM |
Veeresh Malik

 

The grounding of the Pavit off the coast of Mumbai cannot be, once again, attributed to bad weather and coincidence. It is amply clear that something is afoot, and that our security agencies are absolutely clueless—despite all the big talk—about what is happening right off our jetties and wharfs. Somebody or something is trying to do more than play marbles or video games with dead ships let loose near the city

What exactly is happening, why and how are derelict ships with suspicious antecedents drifting to Mumbai's shores, so frequently; and more importantly, what can be done about it?

The media is full of reports about how yet another ship is gracing the Mumbai coastline, and reports seem to centre around how a small tanker, the MV Pavit, with a lower freeboard, does not look as impressive as a not-so-large container ship with high cubics and taller freeboard. There is the usual reportage, the expected pass-the-buck kind of response, and the truth of course lies somewhere else. Here are some facts.

# About a month ago, towards the end of June 2011/early July 2011, the Pavit, (IMO number 9016636) with a complement of 13 Indians on board, on a voyage from the Persian Gulf towards Somalia, reported engine trouble and sought assistance after being adrift for three days. Read an account of the rescue operation in the report titled, (Fleet Air Arm helicopter rescues seamen off Oman.)

# The seafarers were transferred to another merchant ship, the Jag Pushpa, and repatriated to India. The Pavit was apparently left to her fate in the waters of the Arabian Sea. There are rumours that the Pavit was acting as a supplier of marine fuel to Somalia to facilitate piracy activity, and that this was one of the reasons why the crew chose to abandon the ship. Why the owner, or the insurers, did not send one of the many ocean-going rescue tugs to tow the ship back is not known.

# The Pavit, in all appearances, is a well-maintained ship. It is not old, either, or decrepit. If an engine failure for three days in mid-ocean meant seafarers started abandoning ships, then probably a large percentage of the world's fleet would have been derelict by now. The simple fact that the Pavit after she was abandoned did not sink, means that there was some intervention by somebody to ensure that she stayed afloat. This was likely by way of a tow as well as some basic minimal repairs in the reported leakage from the stern gland. Incidentally, stern glands leak all the time, and repairing them while at sea is a very normal and fairly simple practice.

# This time of the year, winds and currents do not push ships southwards down from the Omani coast towards India. Quite the opposite, actually, as any basic knowledge of what happens during the south-west monsoon will reveal. Even if it has drifted due to some freak weather, the prevailing tendency would have been to move towards the Gulf of Kutch. To reach without any assistance the coast of Mumbai is absolutely impossible.

# There is no information from the Director General of Shipping on whether an inquiry or investigation was carried out on the Indian crew and complement of the Jag Pushpa as well as the Pavit when they landed in India. There is no information on who the registered agents for the Pavit were, what information they may have provided about the status of the ship after it was abandoned, and most importantly, what attempts were being made, if any, to regain control of the Pavit.

So, what could have been done?

# A dead ship drifting around in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is certain to have been noticed by a vast variety of ships and reported in. Especially if she was not transmitting any recognition signals on her AIS (automatic identification signals). However, if she was transmitting her AIS, then certainly there was somebody, somewhere who was tracking her as she got closer and closer to the Indian coast; this is standard operating procedure for owners and insurers.

# One of the easiest measures would be for satellite tracking of all ships which are within 12 miles, or even more, of the Indian coast. This data is freely available. The big question is which agency will take this data, analyse it, spot the odd ones out which are not transmitting their AIS signals, or are too close without any business to be there? A proposal that seafarers, who are between exams, to be deputed to handle such information under a Vessel Tracking Scheme has been hanging fire for decades now, as the assorted ministries still try to get their act together.

# Rescue co-ordination, even if done in the Indian Ocean by a British warship, is monitored in India. The Jag Pushpa, by law, is supposed to provide full information on the episode to the Indian authorities. This information then becomes the core of an inquiry and investigation, especially since the seafarers on the Pavit were also Indians, and this could easily have provided ample advance information on the true antecedents of the Pavit as well as the shape of things to come.

Interim, on the basis of educated opinion as well as circumstantial evidence, it can safely be surmised that this ship, also, was somehow brought to within miles of the Mumbai coast and then released. That it landed on the coast of Juhu and not somewhere else, is more a question of nature favouring us again than anything else.

Part II on the mv WISDOM aground at Juhu Beach report for Moneylife

And here's the second part of my report

http://moneylife.in/article/the-mv-wisdom-fiasco-the-story-gets-murkier-and-murkier/17274.html

The MV Wisdom fiasco: The story gets murkier and murkier

The mystery behind what the 36-year-old Anchor Handling Tug (AHTS) Seabulk Plover, with the 26-year-old container ship MV Wisdom, due for scrapping, was actually doing along the Indian coast for almost two weeks before the container ship landed up on the beach off Juhu, now begins to deepen


""The next surprise is that on departing Colombo, the tug & tow combo gave their destination as "Cochin", but records available online do not show them as having visited Cochin Port. Certainly, it is possible that they did not enter the port, and simply steamed past slowly or they may have even stopped for stores and supplies-but then, did they report themselves to the Maritime authorities? This information is not available on the Cochin Port Trust website anymore.

Likewise, there is no report of any such report being made while passing Mangalore or Mormugao, the other two big ports en route. The Mumbai Port Trust website, likewise, does not show anything. It is likely, however, that they may have made their reports to these ports as they steamed past, and this information is simply not updated in the public domain, unlike in the rest of the world.""

http://moneylife.in/article/the-mv-wisdom-fiasco-the-story-gets-murkier-and-murkier/17274.html

mv WISDOM grounded off Juhu, Mumbai Part I

Here's the first article I did at MONEYLIFE on the grounding of the WISDOM off Mumbai.

http://moneylife.in/article/why-was-the-mv-wisdom-allowed-to-get-so-near-the-bandra-worli-sea-link/17245.html

Why was the MV Wisdom allowed to get so near the Bandra-Worli Sea Link?
Did the container ship being towed to the Alang junk yard have permission to sail so close to the coast and sensitive Bombay High oil installation? Who plotted her course? And how come nobody interrupted her voyage

Rule paramount which is drilled into our heads right in the beginning of our training is: All seaworthy merchant ships have a right of innocent passage through non-inland waters worldwide. However, a ship headed for scrapping, either under her own power or tow, does not come close to land or coast, as far as possible, for multiple reasons. If she does, then she needs to inform the authorities, who will then decide if she is to be provided with what is known as "the right to innocent passage" guaranteed to all seaworthy ships of all nations. Because a ship headed for scrapping is not seaworthy. And if a national authority wishes to, it can certainly deny her the right of innocent passage through her territorial waters, till a point where she has to enter the territorial waters for scrapping, or with precautions to prevent exactly what happened with the Wisdom.