IM Skaugen hits out at ‘far from transparent juridical process’ in Indonesia
Oslo: Norwegian firm IM Skaugen’s preliminary results report for 2012 released on Friday cast further details on the tragic collision in September last year between its ship, Norgas Cathinka, and an Indonesian ferry, something the company described as a “new low point”.
The incident led to the loss of life of seven passengers and one crew member on the ferry called Bahuga Jaya.
“We do sincerely regret the loss of lives and we do consider it an avoidable accident that should not have happened and we regret the part we played in it. The ferry Bahuga Jaya was 40 years old and evidently not maintained for its trade and it was probably unseaworthy and did most probably sink for reasons of fatigue or construction failures. The sinking caused in our views the loss of lives and not the collision itself. The loss of lives was also caused by the lack of proper procedures on the ferry to evacuate passengers in an emergency and with inadequate lifesaving procedures and equipment,” IM Skaugen said.
The available data from the VDR data on the Norgas ship makes it possible to reconstruct the events leading to the collision. “From this it is evident that our vessel is not the vessel that caused the collision,” IM Skaugen maintained.
“The aftermath has also proven to be very challenging due to a far from transparent juridical process in Indonesia and we are still waiting for the ship and its crew to be released. The long delays in release of the ship are costly for our company and the loss of earnings amount to $400,000 a month with full operational cost of the vessel with full crew and with cargo of liquefied gasses on board. This complex and not very transparent process in Indonesia makes it appear much more like a ‘hostage situation’.”
Source: http://www.seashipnews.com/
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