Indonesia releases Skaugen's vessel Norgas Cathinka
Indonesia authorities released on April 8, 2013 the IM Skaugen Group owned vessel Norgas Cathinka and her crew after six month of detention in Indonesia, the Group's news release said.
The Group's vessel was involved in a September 26, 2012 collision with the RO/RO passenger ferry Bahuga Jaya near Merak, Indonesia. The incident had led to the loss of life of 7 passengers and 1 crew member.
Two of the Norgas Cathinka crew remain in custody in Indonesia awaiting completion of a trial with reference to their role in the events leading to the collision and the loss of lives.
The ship and the crew members were allowed to leave the country after payment of an undisclosed amount of an out of court settlement made to the the owners of the ferry Bahuga Jaya.
"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. The available data from the VDR data (Black Box) on our 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," the IM Skaugen Group's statement said.
"This accident was the worst accident, involving loss of lives, for our Company since a tragic sinking by a ship and by enemy torpedoes during Second World War and thus a low in our history - and we all need to make sure it will never happen again. We do sincerely regret the loss of lives and we do consider it an avoidable accident that should not have happened and we do much regret the part we played in it."
"We understand that the National Safety Transportation Committee of Indonesia (NTSC) will publish its report on its findings re the accident soon. We have been cooperating with all Indonesian authorities to ensure there is an open and transparent process with fair and impartial investigations and we do hope the NTSC will provide assurances of same when their final report is published. The NTSC has relied on the VDR from our ship to develop a factual analysis of the events leading to the collision. The NTSC report will be produced by a cooperation between flag state (Singapore MPA) and port state; and as per the IMO guidelines. The Governments of Philippines, China and the two shipping companies involved have been encouraged to comment on its findings. In our view the NTSC report has, In its draft form that we made comments upon, the appearance of being balanced and factual and give clear recommendations on the core issue resulting in the collision. The report does not, as of yet and in our view, cover sufficiently the reasons leading to the sinking of the ferry and the loss of lives - and this is in our view necessary in order to learn from the accident and take the corrective action to make the ferry operation safer. The recommendations given to our company by NTSC re navigational issues on our ship are clear and we have already taken substantive measures to implement and improve and change! - and will enforce this as we proceed. We are working hard with all relevant entities to secure the release of our two crew members still in Indonesia," the statement said.
