The Taiwanese container vessel that had run aground on Friday evening off the Karachi port had grounded not because of the “engine failure”, a reason reportedly quoted by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
Ever since the media has reported the grounding of YM North a guessing game has started in the ports and shipping circles about the real cause of the ship’s mysterious grounding at around 7pm while en route to berths number 26-27 of the Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) where it was to offload some 1553 TEUs of the total 1740 twenty-equivalent units it carried.
The media reports suggest that the KPT, the port operator, is trying to give an impression that as if the grounding was caused by an “engine failure” and none of its pilots were aboard or that the ship master was piloting the vessel without the assistance of KPT’s piloting crew.
Also, KPT Chairman Aslam Hayat convened an urgent meeting at the KPT head office on Saturday afternoon to ascertain the cause(s) of and fix responsibility for the grounding that, the shipping experts believe, could be dangerous for a ship carrying thousands of TEUs of variable weight and size.
According to well-placed sources, the meeting observed that YM North had gone astray from the port’s navigational channel due to “mistake” of the KPT pilot.
The meeting was informed that instead of boarding and piloting the ship himself Raja Rafique, the pilot better known as RR, had conveyed to the captain, naturally ignorant of the channel route, to bring the vessel as nearer as three nautical miles inside the approach channel.
The ship master, willy-nilly, followed the advice and steered the vessel towards the boat carrying Rafique on waiting. But, the meeting was told, when the master unfolded the ship ladder to the pilot the rear part of the vessel, known as “Aft” in shipping circles, grounded.
“This infuriated the captain who exchanged some hot words with the pilot,” sources privy to the meeting told Pakistan Today. “I don’t recognize you as a pilot!,” they quoted the captain as shouting at the pilot.
The meeting lasted for more than an hour with the participants tending to agree that the fault was lying on their own side, means the pilot.
“Never in the history a ship ever grounded at this point of the channel,” recalled a shipping expert privy to the incident. He said the vessel had run in the shallow waters at Buoy Number S-T in front of the Oil Piers.
The expert cited three major factors for the grounding of a ship that, he said, include the low tide, engine breakdown or steering failure.
“There was high tide at the time of grounding taking the draft above 12 meters in the channel that means tide was not an issue,” the expert said. If tide factor is not there, he said, the grounding mostly takes place when there is a failure of engine or steering.
“If these reasons were not involved the grounding is beyond understanding at this very point of the Karachi port,” the expert wondered.
About the KPT pilot, a source said Rafique was a senior and therefore experienced pilot and was less likely to have a hand in the ship’s grounding. “I personally know RR. He is a cool minded person and is unlikely to have committed a mistake,” the source opined. However, while the KPT officials led by the chairman are running here and there to unearth the truth the KPT’s intelligence report shows the Taiwanese vessel as anchored at berth number 26-27 of the KICT after, subsequently, being made afloat with the help of at least half a dozen KPT tug boats. Though the report does not show name of the shipping agent the sources identified the agent as M/s IN Shipping. Reportedly, Singapore was the last port of YM North which has a loading capacity of 3800TEUs and a gross registered tonnage of 46,697, and bears the International Maritime Organisation registration No 0415893.
