Bulker cracks 'painted over'
Twilight Marine, registered owner of the Maltese-registered bulker Warrior has been charged with allowing the ship to cross the Atlantic with deck cracks masked by tape and paint. According to court documents, the company has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanour charge stemming from the September 2006 transit. It will do so tomorrow in US District Court in Oakland – a move that will allow 10 Ukrainian crewmen to be released from custody. The criminal information states that while the crew found and repaired two smaller cracks through welding, sailors onboard identified two larger cracks, each about one metre in length, on the port side deck. “Instead of being welded, these cracks were covered with tape and painted over to blend in with the remaining painting on deck.” The Coast Guard discovered the cracks during a subsequent November inspection of the 38,888-dwt ship in San Francisco after being tipped off by crew members.
