Another Cebu ship in trouble

CEBU, Philippines - The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) yesterday suspended the safety certificate of MV Butuan of Gothong Shipping Lines for putting to risk the lives of more than 200 passengers as well as its officers and crew when it experienced engine failure while en route from Cebu to Misamis Occidental via Iligan.

This most recent incident in the shipping industry comes barely a week after the sinking of SuperFerry 9 of Aboitiz Transport System off the Zamboanga Peninsula.

MV Butuan left Cebu at 7 p.m. Thursday and reportedly suffered minor engine problem when it was 9.8 nautical miles west of Plaridel, Misamis Occidental around 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

Gothong Shipping Lines spokesperson lawyer Francisco Mejares told the Freeman that at 3 a.m., the ship’s chief engineer noticed that the engine’s oil pressure had drastically dropped so they decided to just cut the main engine and dropped anchor.

Engineers found a defective O-ring that resulted to an oil leak.

The crew was able to repair the damage after about eight hours and the boat continued its trip by 12:45 p.m.

The shipping firm said that the passengers were given breakfast and lunch and they were able to reach their destination around 6 p.m. yesterday.

MARINA information officer Mardon Martin said they suspended MV Butuan’s safety certificate as a standard procedure every time a vessel experiences a problem while en route.

Martin said that the vessel had passed the annual MARINA inspection that’s why they were given safety certificates.

The incident will be investigated and the term of the suspension will depend on the result of the investigation.

MARINA will be scrutinizing all aspects of the ship and will try to determine what went wrong and who is liable for the incident that could have led to another sea tragedy had the crew failed to notice immediately the problem.

MV Butuan will undergo machinery condition evaluation, and crew documents inspection among others.

Martin questioned why the Coast Guard District failed to notice the problem when they conducted the mandatory pre-departure inspection two hours prior to the scheduled departure of the ship.

Coast Guard District Central Eastern Visayas Information Officer Commander Anelito Gabisan said that the pre-departure inspection they conduct covers only the inspection of the necessary documents excluding the thorough inspection of the condition of the engine.

Gabisan said it is MARINA’s duty to ensure that engines are in good condition before they would issue safety certificates and clearance.

Gabisan added that MV Butuan was able to present safety certificate, certificate of public conveyance and master’s of oath safety departure among others.

MARINA’s suspension of the safety certificate bans the ship from operating but Mejares said that they were able to secure special permit to navigate without passengers and cargo so MV Butuan can go back to Cebu.

Mejares said they will also submit a marine protest to lift the suspension immediately since it was just a minor problem and all the passengers were brought to shore.

Gothong Shipping Lines is ready to pay the fines for the inconvenience that they caused the passengers.

Review of Guidelines

The Cebu City Council will ask MARINA to review the existing guidelines about the operation of second-hand shipping vessels, specifically the alteration of its original structural designs.

Most of the passenger vessels plying in Cebu and other parts of the archipelago are second-hand ships bought from Japan and some other countries where shipping companies remodeled them to maximize their passenger capacity.

Cebu City north district Councilor Edgardo Labella has observed that even smaller inter-island vessels, which have been procured from other countries were remodeled by adding more decks that adversely affect the balance and stability of the vessel.

“As a consequence of these alterations of the vessel’s original structural designs, plus careless ergonomics, vessels de-stabilize and tip off-balance easily, making them vulnerable to sinking even with only slight weather changes or poor arrangements of cargoes,” Labella said.

Labella is very concerned about sea tragedies because he was among those hundreds of passengers of a Cebu-bound inter-island vessel that capsized while navigating during bad weather.

According to Labella that one way to enhance the protection of public safety on sea travel is by way of introducing appropriate regulations responsive to the operation of the disaster-prone domestic shipping industry.

He has suggested that Marina should require all shipping companies to engage the services of experts who do careful study on all modifications of a vessel’s structural design if they wish to remodel a ship. — with Rene Borromeo/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)