Ship owner’s details not given to kin of crew
Mansi Choksi I TNN
Mumbai: The M V Rezzak story just got murkier.
Documents procured from Lloyd’s, an agency that maintains a record of registrations on behalf of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), say Samta Shipmanagement Pte Ltd, named as the owner of the missing vessel M V Rezzak by the Black Sea MoU, and a company called Pelican Maritime Co Ltd operate from the same address in Singapore. The manning agent of the crew for M V Rezzak has a suspiciously similar-sounding name (Pelican Marines). The IMO documents say both Samta Shipmanagement Pte Ltd and Pelican Maritime Co Ltd work from 03-01, Shenton House, 3, Shenton Way, Singapore—068805. Pelican Marines director Santosh Biswas was livid at suggestions that his firm and Pelican Maritime Co Ltd could be the same organisation. “I do not know of a firm called Samta Shipmanagement Pte Ltd. The owner of the ship is 2D Shipping but I don’t have the contact details,’’ he said, assuring TOI that he could get them.
But family members of the missing crew say they have reasons to be suspicious. “The details of employers and ship owners are to be maintained by the director-general of shipping (DGS),’’ the Gazette of India (Extraordinary, part II, section 3, subsection (i), dated 2005) states. However, family members of the crew said the contract signed with manning agent Pelican Marines only mentioned the name of the owner, 2D Shipping. “Why have we not been given the contact details of the owner? We approached the DGS’s office but they have not cooperated with us. This violates the Central government Merchant Shipping Act-1958 rules,’’ V Krishnan, brother-in-law of the chief engineer of the missing vessel (Mahendra Menon), said.
Captain Saagi from the DGS refused to comment on these allegations. “We have said everything we had to in our official press statement,’’ he said. Officials from the manning agent, Pelican Marines, said that they would comment in a written reply but there was no response to the emails sent out to the company.
“The search team (looking for M V Rezzak) did not find any debris till Thursday morning. We sent a detailed letter to the DGS with vital clues on Wednesday night, which clearly established that the missing theory was a cooked-up story and an outright fraud. It is now evident that the DGS is also consciously aware that a fraud has been committed by Pelican Marines and its team of unscrupulous partners consisting of 2D shipping, Samta Shipmanagement Pte, and CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret,’’ family members of the missing crew said in a letter sent to Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
Another ship, Jupiter 6, for which Pelican Marines recruited the crew, went missing in 2005. A case filed by family members of the missing crew is going to come up in the Supreme Court on March 25.
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3/17/08
REZZAK: THE MISSING SHIP SAGA
THE MISSING SHIP SAGA
Rezzak debris recovered, claims shipping authority
Mansi Choksi I TNN
Mumbai: The deputy director-general of shipping on Friday advised family members of the crew aboard missing vessel M V Rezzak to accept monetary compensation as soon as possible as fresh evidence obtained during investigation indicated that the ship had sunk.
“Debris, believed to be that of the ship, was recovered on Thursday night around 5 nautical miles from the Turkish coast,’’ deputy director-general of shipping P H Krishnan said. Asked if there was any way to prove that the remains were those of the missing ship, Krishnan said, “The debris does not have the name of the ship inscribed on it but it is believed to belong to M V Rezzak.’’ The DGS, who said the remains were found 5 nautical miles from the coast, had earlier stated that the ship went missing around 120 nautical miles from the shore. “It’s possible that the debris drifted towards the coast,’’ said Krishnan.
But Uma Mohan, sister-in-law of the ship’s chief engineer, said, “Even fishermen go deeper than 10-15 nautical miles. How can it be that they didn’t find this evidence before even though it was so close to the coast? This is just their way to try and close the case before the upcoming Supreme Court hearing about another missing vessel, Jupiter 6.’’
DGS officials and M V Rezzak manning agent Pelican Marines also pointed out on Friday that they were not aware who owned the ship. A contract signed between the crew members and Pelican Marines stated that the owner of M V Rezzak was 2D Shipping and the operator CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret. Both DGS and Pelican Marines were forthcoming with details of Turkey-based CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret but said they did not have any information regarding 2D Shipping. A report from the Memorandum of Understanding Black Sea, containing information on craft going out into the sea, says the vessel belongs to a Singaporean firm, Samta ShipManagement.
“We don’t know who 2D Shipping is as we have not interacted with it. We are only in touch with CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret,’’ said Pelican Marines director Santosh Biswas. “I believe the owner is placed in Turkey. Pelican Marines, being the manning agent of the ship, should know who it is,’’ said Krishnan. “There are different names in different places. 2D shipping is a bogus company; there is no trace of this firm, not even in the shipping association of Singapore. The owner stands to gain the most from a maritime insurance fraud. How can the authorities put their hands up like this?’’ asked Mohan.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default
March 15, TOI
Rezzak debris recovered, claims shipping authority
Mansi Choksi I TNN
Mumbai: The deputy director-general of shipping on Friday advised family members of the crew aboard missing vessel M V Rezzak to accept monetary compensation as soon as possible as fresh evidence obtained during investigation indicated that the ship had sunk.
“Debris, believed to be that of the ship, was recovered on Thursday night around 5 nautical miles from the Turkish coast,’’ deputy director-general of shipping P H Krishnan said. Asked if there was any way to prove that the remains were those of the missing ship, Krishnan said, “The debris does not have the name of the ship inscribed on it but it is believed to belong to M V Rezzak.’’ The DGS, who said the remains were found 5 nautical miles from the coast, had earlier stated that the ship went missing around 120 nautical miles from the shore. “It’s possible that the debris drifted towards the coast,’’ said Krishnan.
But Uma Mohan, sister-in-law of the ship’s chief engineer, said, “Even fishermen go deeper than 10-15 nautical miles. How can it be that they didn’t find this evidence before even though it was so close to the coast? This is just their way to try and close the case before the upcoming Supreme Court hearing about another missing vessel, Jupiter 6.’’
DGS officials and M V Rezzak manning agent Pelican Marines also pointed out on Friday that they were not aware who owned the ship. A contract signed between the crew members and Pelican Marines stated that the owner of M V Rezzak was 2D Shipping and the operator CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret. Both DGS and Pelican Marines were forthcoming with details of Turkey-based CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret but said they did not have any information regarding 2D Shipping. A report from the Memorandum of Understanding Black Sea, containing information on craft going out into the sea, says the vessel belongs to a Singaporean firm, Samta ShipManagement.
“We don’t know who 2D Shipping is as we have not interacted with it. We are only in touch with CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret,’’ said Pelican Marines director Santosh Biswas. “I believe the owner is placed in Turkey. Pelican Marines, being the manning agent of the ship, should know who it is,’’ said Krishnan. “There are different names in different places. 2D shipping is a bogus company; there is no trace of this firm, not even in the shipping association of Singapore. The owner stands to gain the most from a maritime insurance fraud. How can the authorities put their hands up like this?’’ asked Mohan.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default
March 15, TOI
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