Latest status on motor tug JUPITER-6 at Supreme Court of India/Delhi

Kind courtesy Manoj Joy of Sailor's Helpline. . .

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Dear ______

Latest development in the missing Jupiter-6 Case.

On April 29, 2011 the case of Jupiter-6 came up before Supreme Court of India. The legal team from Sailors Helpline was present in the court to assist the family members.  

As soon as the case was taken for hearing Honorable Justice Raveendran, made an observation regarding the plight of Indian seafarers in Somalia.

Justice Raveendran said, " This morning I read in the newspaper that more than 57 Indian seafarers are still under captive in Somalia. What is the government doing about the welfare of Indian seafarers".   

The government replied that they are in touch with various other countries to solve the crisis and they would file their reply before the next hearing.

From our side we have submitted detailed documents to the court with regard to various issues faced by the Indian seafarers. We have prayed for criminal action against the fly by night operating and shady recruiting firms.

During the hearing the court also directed the company to pay interim compensation to the Ukrainian nationals who were on board Jupiter-6, without any pre-condtions (i.e full and final settlement). In 2009 the court directed the Jupiter-6 owners to pay an interim compensation of USD 40,000 for officers and USD 25,000 for non-officers. The total compensation payable to the families will be determined by the court later.

The above amount was not paid to the families by the owners under some or the other pretext. Finally the court directed the owners to deposit the compensation amount in the Supreme Court. The family members will receive the amount from the court in a few days time.  The Jupiter-6, chief engineer,  son's both the kidney has got damaged and to transplant the kidney they are in urgent need to money.  We brought this matter to the notice of the court and the Honorable Judges have passed orders to pay them the compensation expeditiously.

During the previous hearing on March 28, 2011 the court directed the government to file  the status report with reference to the condition prevailing as on  date, particularly, to verify whether the amendments to SOLAS, RPS Rules and MLC Convention 2006 etc. have come into force and the effect thereof.

In this regard we too have compiled all the relevant materials pertaining to amendments to SOLAS, RPS Rules and MLC Convention 2006. We requested the court to grant us permission file these documents. The court in its order has permitted us to file the same. 

Warm regards
Manoj
Sailors Helpline

Following is the Supreme Court order dated April 29, 2011.

SABEEHA FAIKAGE AND ORS.                                       Petitioner(s)

                   VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                          Respondent(s)

(With appln(s) for impleadment)

(For final disposal)

Date: 29/04/2011    This Petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.V. RAVEENDRAN

        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.K. PATNAIK

           UPON hearing counsel the Court made the following

                               O R D E R

                 Mr. H.P.Rawal,learned ASG submitted that he has received some of the information in regard to the current position regarding amendments to SOLAS, RPS Rules and MLC Convention 2006 etc. and also certain other information and hence seeks time to place them on record in the form of an affidavit.

             Mr. Rajiv Dutta, learned senior counsel stated that in so far as two Ukrainian sailors, their families have refused to accept the payment.Their refusal appears to be for the reason that payment was offered in full and final satisfaction. It is made clear that the payment may be offered ex-gratia and without a condition that it is in full and final satisfaction. If such an offer is made, we are sure that they will also receive the amount and have the benefit of the same.

             Learned counsel for the petitioner stated that one of the petitioner is in dire need of the amount and the Registrar (Judl.)may be requested to dispose of his claim expeditiously. If the concerned applicant

presents the application in the required form, we are sure that the Registrar Judl.) will dispose of the same expeditiously, preferably within one month.

             Petitioners are also directed to file documents with reference to SOLAS, RPS Rules and MLC Convention 2006 etc.

             List in the third week of July, 2011.

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Additional non judiciary observations:-

# DGS apparently said that RPS and MSA have no penal provisions?
# DGS apparently said that they are terribly under-staffed.
# DGS apparently spotted having lunch with the owners.

The authorities have been looking at DGS with the same magnifying glass that they used for DGCA, and biggest question being asked is - how come DGS happily signs on documents pertaining to ship-owners whose addresses are in tax havens, when beneficiary owners are in other countries - are DGS conspiring against Indian Government in tax evasion issues now?

What really happened to the BELUGA NOMINATION in Somalia?

Every piracy and hijacking episode has its own human toll, which is seldom ever revealed, but the episode involving the BELUGA NOMINATION stands out for a variety of reasons. Of late, violence against seafarers seems to have grown from bad to worse, and those on board BELUGA NOMINATION's experienced some of the worst leading to multiple deaths and injuries.

BELUGA, a German company, has been in financial trouble for quite some time now. About 50 of its 140-odd vessels are currently impounded or in trouble worldwide for fiduciary reasons, and more are re-possesed or trade under other fundamentals Even the BELUGA NOMINATION, by the time it was released, had been renamed NOMINATION.

Seized on 22jan2011, she was on a voyage from Italy via Malta to South Korea via Seychelles, carrying cargo listed as "steel" but actually much else - including structurals, boats and yachts. This company is known to be in the business of delivering arms globally, also, and till today it has not been revealed what cargo she was actually carrying.

The crew were able to withstand the attack for 49 hours in the citadel, and even managed to steer and control the vessel while inside. However, despite the presence of naval forces nearby, no action was taken to remove the pirates - who finally broke into the citadel using blow-torches and gas-operated cutting tools.

Initially, the vessel was part of the convoy leaving the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and despite reports of pirates circling the convoy looking for stragglers, the vessel chose to break away from the convoy in full sight of the pirates, who then followed her. With a slow speed, loaded down to her marks with deck cargo visible, and a 2 metre freeboard as a heavy-lift carrier small general cargo ship, she was a sitting duck target - and other ships in the convoy wondered.

In the initial turmoil due to the citadel being breached, two seafarers managed to escape - the Ukranian 2nd Officer launched the lifeboat and a Filipino cook jumped into the water to get into the boat, and were rescued by the Danish warship HDMS ESBERN SNARE, which was suddenly on-scene.Two more seafarers who jumped into the water went missing, and a pirate was killed in the fighting that followed, after which yet another seafarer was killed in retribution.

It was after this that the naval ships nearby, Danish and Seychelles Coast Guard, also fired on the engine room to disable the ship. Why they did not do this before the citadel was breached is yet unknown, some attribute it to lack of information on the explosive nature of the cargo as well as communication with the Master of the ship, which as mentioned before was carrying some probably undeclared cargo in the holds.

After this, the pirates brough the Long Range Mother Ship, the previously pirated gas tanker YORK, and used her engine crew to work and repair the BELUGA NOMINATION, after which both sailed back to the Somali coast.

It was also reported that the Chief Engineer of the BELUGA NOMINATION died under terrible circumstances.

As this blog is written, the NOMINATION (as she is now called) is now released and in safe waters, the status of cargo onboard as well as seafarers is not reliably known, and interim since the owners, managers and operators have all changed, the only remaining thread is with the insurance company - Danish company SKULD.

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The BELUGA NOMINATION episode, if and when the truth about the remaining 6 or 7 seafarers from the original 12 or 14 is revealed, brings out many important issues:-

# Management companies are still not able to do much, despite being the link, for seafarers. The seafarers onboard this ship were covered under an ITF agreement between Marlowe Navigation and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, both of whom were not able to do much.

# The situation with number of ships currently seized and seafarers being held captive is grossly under-stated. According to one EU-NAVFOR report, the actual number of ships and seafarers is double that of official figures - there are many piracy incidents which are simply not revealed.

# The old method of citadels built around steering gears and after peak tanks will not work, and citadels will have to be built to withstand at least 7 days of effort, to permit naval ships to take action, especially if it involves coordination with multiple entities representing owners, charterers, flag state, cargo receivers, ITF, insurers and other interests.

# Seafarers own insurance terms and conditions for working in piracy areas need to be defined more clearly, in advance, and next of kin taken into confidence at all times.

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There is much that is still unknown about what actually happened with the crew on the BELUGA NOMINATION. And this was one of the so-called "best of breed" European owners, with European officers and Philipino crew, all covered by a variety of agreements. And half of them now dead.

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