Mumbai blues

I arrived well on the 19th from Maldives and next few days are spent writing reports and price estimates for the proposed project in case it takes off. The funny thing happening is now that Mumbai Port Trust or the immigration (according to agent) is not issuing me a dock pass. I can sign on the yacht but not go ashore (unless e.g. visiting a Doctor). The other option I suggested then was to designate me as the ship superintendent and I got a pass but I could not stay overnight, I am told by the agent to stay at a hotel. Catch 22 situation...

Victoria Docks being filled up, a historical landmark soon gone

Old sheds being demolished at Victoria Docks

Further had to run to FRRO offices to apply for visa extension and here another problem arises in the form of paid taxes. As I receive my salary abroad to an offshore account I don't pay any taxes in India and explaining this to the bureaucrats was like explaining quantum mechanics to a slum dweller. Well, the 20th I stayed onboard overnight and nobody's alarm bells rang.

Basin being land filled at Victoria Docks

Old pilot boat

An era gone by

On the 21st the agent asks me 20.000 rupees for the visa extension, on the 23rd & 24th I still run in the FRRO office and the Tax office re: the tax issue. Our agent is proving to be useful like a donkey with tits. At least I get some real work done too as all UB boats are sent upstream to Belapur for the monsoon and I crash at Thomas place as we finish very late in the evening.

M/y Linse on the way to Belapur

Gateway of India, side view

25th is the final time I visit the FRRO office, they grant me a 3mths extension that can be extended another 9mths provided I get them the tax paper. Needless to say this is not going to happen and other things are brewing so I take it in my stride. No point in arguing with a desk person.

Mumbai architecture

Mumbai architecture

26th I'm dealing with paperwork and in the evening I go to the Comedy Club at Phoenix Mills to watch some standup comedy with Anahita Marker, quite entertaining in the end. Afterwards we have a veg dinner at the Punjab Grill and I'm totally stuffed.

Mumbai architecture

Victoria train station

27th I prepare my final handover notes and am invited to a farewell dinner at Aashim's pad. On the 28th I start my handover and on the 29th I'm flying again, this time to Europe. I arrive at 2am Nice, France on the 30th May and take a taxi to Monaco to sign on Indian Empress. I arrive just in time to see all the festivities winding down and get my bags onboard and crash to start next morning as Chief Officer.

Marinas in Mumbai

On 25th Aug I came across this article in Mumbai Mirror where they envisioned new Marinas in several areas near Mumbai, such as Gateway, Mandwa, Girgaum chowpatti, Worli seaface, Revas, Mandwa, Alibag, Elephanta and Belapur in 2-3 years. It is about time. They say only the investor is missing.

Fishermen cooped up for monsoon in Mandwa

Meanwhile the media has totally forgotten that there is the perfect spot called Prince's dock that is being filled up soon to make way for the Mumbai Port trusts "planned" container terminal. At same time a part of Mumbai's heritage will be lost to the future generations forever and people will be able only to read about it in the history books. Perhaps that is what is called progress or evolution.

Boats being stored at Belapur

For example how many does remember the Bombay Explosion? That time it took 7 months to restore the docks into working condition, now they are willingly filling it up to make way for an absurd plan that only serves the MbPT's greed.

Map of Mumbai area with red spots marking the "marina" hotspots mentioned in the article

The 2-3 year time span for building a Marina seems very short in Indian terms, it only took 20 years to build the Bandra - Worli sealink after all political and legal hurdles were passed. I don't think a marina is going to make any difference in way of getting the political goodwill and permits to go ahead with such developments. There is always bound to be some goonda that crawls out from under a stone and presents his own angle and agenda to the project when he smells the crores in the air.

A bit up the river a private floating jetty of marina standard

It sounds very fatalistic but I've seen and read how things work in India and it is not nearly easy or smooth despite how much the wheels are greased up. Maybe the marina development will present another avenue for illegal sand dredging activities that are reported in newspapers.

Bottom line is that there is a growing yachting community in Mumbai area as Aashim Mongia says. If nothing is done to service this clientele they are going to find their own venues in more favorable locations and disappear from Mumbai (taking away the revenue and employment that could be generated). As I blogged earlier all yachties have had great difficulties finding monsoon storage for their boats since the Prince's dock was made unavailable.

Aashim Mongia of Westcoast Marine Services

Some boats went all the way down to Goa and some boats pooled together and rented a space in Belapur which is normally used for sand business and during these rainy months has been more of a mud pool than a boat yard. Few boats went down to Mandwa and beached their boats on mudflats during spring tide.

Lets hope the Mumbai Mirror article is the harbinger of change in attitude and the light at the end of the tunnel for the yachting fraternity in Mumbai.

Marinas, Parks and Recreation Developments: Proceedings of the International Conference : Milwaukee, Wisconsin June 26-30, 1994

Marinas: A Working Guide to Their Development and Design

Mumbai oil spill

It was an ordinary day on August 9th when it was announced in the news that two cargo ships, MSC Chitra and Khalijia III had collided just in front of Mumbai harbor and that one of them was sinking. When MSC Chitra sank, or rather, was beached on Prong Reef, she started leaking out heavy fuel oil (HFO). Official estimates was that around 800 tons leaked out in Mumbai waters and about 500 containers had fallen into the sea.

MSC Chitra (picture courtesy of www.today24news.com)

Reports states that MSC Chitra was on the way out of Mumbai harbor enroute to Gujarat while the Khalijia III was on anchorage and was on the way into the harbor. I have not seen any diagrams of how the collision has taken place but first impression is that this accident could have been avoided with better lookout.

  

All the colors of the rainbow at Belapur

We could also see the effect of the accident very clearly in our smeared water line and dirty tenderboat as well as the floating lumps of congealed HFO that come by with the currents. Worst with HFO is that it comes off with great difficulty and we have to brush off our tender every night.  While Media was talking about the oil slick that was nearing Elephanta and posing a risk to the mangroves it was already there. The Authorities did nothing except talk a lot at first, it seemed no oil spill contingency plan had been made. Then the traffic was closed to Mumbai port and the Indian Navy was called upon to spray dispersant that makes the HFO sink to the bottom of the sea. After that International salvers were called but as it seems the closest Salver was in Singapore it'll take some time before they can arrive to the scene.

HFO pollution on shores

Some days later even the Belapur jetty was black with HFO and cookie packets from containers floated to the shores that local people opened for the stray dogs to eat. Authorities advised fishermen not to catch fish, still I watched people venturing out to ea every morning for fishing. It is hard when it is your only livelihood. I wonder if they managed to sell their catch at all.

Stranded cookie packets from containers

We also saw at times (and reported to the VTS) containers floating by our anchorage position. While tendering ashore there is still one container stranded in the mangroves. News reports that some of these containers carry some very hazardous chemicals inside them.

Acquaintances told me that the Marine drive was also littered with big splotches of HFO as well as the mangrove at Colaba near the Navy area seems to be totally gone black from HFO. At least here in Belapur area I have not seen any anti-pollution measures taken. I suppose there are no equipment for this kind of incidents. The response from the Authorities has been inadequate, one only has to wonder what would happen if an oil spill of the BP magnitude would happen at the Indian coast?

Soon after the accident the blame game started, the pilots were blamed on leaving the vessel too early at Middle Ground, the vessel traffic management system (VTS) was blamed on not monitoring the traffic, the ships blamed they had been on different radio channels and each other, the crew blamed the port officials, politicians started pointing at each other and so on.

The fact remains that a collision happened in fair weather during broad daylight that lead to a minor environmental disaster.

My opinon of current affairs would be:

- The pilot leaving the ship earlier is a normal praxis in most ports when the seaconditions are bad and in Mumbai the swell is quite high. From Middle ground there is only one pair of buoys (visible by eye) to be passed and after that any course can be taken (depending on your destination), any navigator can master this task, it is like driving to the next lights and take a turn. I'm sure the pilot advised the Captain where to proceed and also the current traffic in the vicinity. If the Master agreed to let the pilot disembark it was his decision as he could have expressed his inexperience in the area and ask the pilot to stay until port limits. Anyway, legally pilots are not responsible of the ships they pilot, they just give advice and while most Masters let the pilots take their ships in/ out of ports they are always in the end responsible for what the pilot does. Hence the Master/ Officer on duty should always double check the orders and decisions taken by the pilot as per good seamanship;

- While the VTS is tasked on monitoring the traffic they are not responsible for individual vessels movements, they can advise of dangers though and it is the Master's task to navigate as per the Rules of the Road (COLREG's). My experience of Mumbai VTS is that they are far too stretched to be able to effectively monitor everything that happens in Mumbai port. Even here the legal aspect falls on the Master, the VTS is just a tool for him;

- My question is that what did the Master/ Officer on watch do on both vessels? It was daylight and fair weather, no rain and good visibility as well as plenty of deep water to move around in. In such coastal navigation areas I'm sure that the both vessels Insternational Safety Management Systems (ISM) stipulated that the bridge manning should have consisted at least of the Master, Officer of the Watch, lookout and helmsman. Did none of these 8 pairs of eyes realize there was a close quarter situation developing? I'm sure the accident reports that will be filed by both Masters must be nothing short of an award in science fiction;

- Media had a field day on the fact that both vessels were on different radio channels and could not communicate with each other. I am and have always been against this kind of radio navigation as one can never be sure what is being said and with whom. Furthermore the COLREG's gives clear rules of the road, who has "right of way" and who is the "give away vessel" in various situations. COLREG's even stipulate that in the event that it seems the "give away vessel" is not taking evasive action the "right of way vessel" is then obligated to do so. Some might argue about what is the distance to 2 vessels when this regulation comes into force and in my opinion it depends on the size of the vessel. The bigger the vessel, the longer the distance, as one has to judge the "point of no return" when the other and your own vessel is not able to avoid a collision whatever measures are taken. If I would be the OOW or Master I would never like to be that close. In the end the radio channel has no effect on the navigation whatsoever as they do not steer the ship, the man in command does it. Legally they will be blamed for this neglect though, as they should have been in radio contact as has been judged in many courts regarding several collision incidents;

- Media put some notice that MSC Chitra had Port State deficiencies but it was not detained in New Zealand and Australia earlier. As per Equasis she has been having Port State issues since 1998 (or even earlier) but only once in 1998 was she detained in Italy. Same fact also applies to Khalijia III, she has also been having Port State deficiencies since 1999 (or even earlier) and she has been detained twice once in 2001 in Italy and once in 2007 in India. MSC Chitra was built in 1980 and Khalijia in 1985 so even the age points to the fact that these both ships are approaching the end of their service life;

- Whatever the condition of the ships it has not been reported it was a technical failure so my only million dollar question remains: What were the personnel doing on the bridge if not looking out of the window to monitor the close quarter situation developing?

The sun still shines on Mumbai

In the end I'm guessing both Companies will be implicated and an arbiter will assess who had more fault than the other and the salvage and oil spill damages will be split on a ratio, perhaps 70/30 or along those lines. The public media will forget this issue when a new scandal or catastrophy emerges and life will go on...

Below are links to news articles about the issue:

Aug 9

Mumbai Oil spill disaster MSC Chitra collided with mv Khalijia III

Mumbai Oil spill continues 300 containers tumbled into water so far

MbPT appoints Smit salvage to control Mumbai coast oil spill

Case to be filed against Owners of mv Khalijia III & MSC Chitra

Police officer drowns

Aug 11

MSC Chitra oil leak plugged

Government orders MSC Chitra to pay damages

Cargo schedule disruptions due to collision

Aug 12

Captain of MSC Chitra gets interim bail

Container floating in Mumbai harbor

Five days after ship crash operations resume at ports 

Aug 13

Hawkers rent binoculars at Gateway of India

Mumbai oil spill Khalijia III could be at fault says probe 

Salvage operation continues off Mumbai coast 

Aug 14

Ships fly foreign flags to sail around tough desi laws 

Aug 15

Oil spill a freak accident 

Local agences blasted as oil spill destroys mangroves

Captain's blog May 2010

So, May went at anchorage in front of Gateway to India. By the time of writing this the skies have cleared and the swell has started to roll in the port area. It seems the monsoon rains are imminent.

1st of May I completed two years employment onboard Kalizma. Wow, times run fast the older you get.

The noise of the IPL scandal has since then died down and nothing is being heard of Modi either - yesterdays news...

4th May I signed a years contract to continue on Kalizma as Captain as well as to assist in relief work on other yachts and maintaining the local fleet.

On the 7th I met Avnish and Eddy Powis Jr from Phuket at the Mumbai yacht club. We had a nice dinner at Aashim's flat. His daughters were entertaining us with Bollywood dancing.

The Mumbai yacht club

Next Sunday went having Biryani lunch in Alibaug at Avnish & Bijoya's pad. The weather was fine but the humidity was really killing this weekend.

Otherwise working days went chasing up quotes and prices as well as doing routine maintenance. Sunil has been busy trying to find a fitter to come and assist him in engineering works. Saini is on leave. I also had some meetings with RINA regarding our commercial certification issues. I believe this will come to an end when I return from my leave in July.

Richard is applying for his UK visa as he is due to become a castle guardian in Scotland. He'll enjoy the single malt in the cold winters there.

Sunil is again getting his visas to go to UK and complete his Y3 and Y4 certifications as well as a short visit to France to get familiarized with pre- & post- maintenance of an offshore Cigarette boat that does 90 knots.

24th I do a short visit to Crawford market with Sunil and fit 2 kurtas for me, Sunil fitted one. There was no bargaining involved as all shopkeepers had started with fixed prices. Hardly could we negotiate 70 Rs down. I also shopped for some souvenirs for my family as I was going to Finland for vacation. Thailand and The Red Shirt demonstrators are at the moment a bit too restless for my taste. So, I'll go to my home country for the first time since 2004.

Sunil & me in our new kurta's

26th I join Cmde Mongia to do a recce up to Borivali to check out berthing for the smaller yachts in Mumbai. We pass the CST container terminal, Elephanta Island, the oil terminals and the unfinished Reliance bridge. There is some land claims taking place and I believe a small marina in the making.

Land filling at Reliance bridge

Lifting smaller yachts for rain season storage

I could see numerous barges being loaded to the hatch coaming with riversand and discharging it for the landfill. At the same time Aashim was already lifting up yachts for rain season storage on the rented field. I also met Bob Pinto who was also checking out the area for storing is own yacht.

The "mini-marina"

We met the small marina manager, the son of Ganesh Naik, MLA and had a chat with him. They are planning to build a clubhouse soon and dredge the pier for some more docking space. It will be a nice smallboat marina if this takes place.

On the way back we stopped by the Princess dock and I could see that landfill preparations were underway but had not yet started. The pier was loaded with big cement blocks just waiting to be dumped into the sea. Custom house was still berthing their launches inside Princess docks. The seawall was occupied by various wrecks, we had actually a pending application for their berth. The Cross Island islet seemed to have lost all its vegetation and some elevation as I believe it'll be leveled for land reclamation.

Princess docks entrance & cement blocks

Our berthing issue has yet to be resolved as the Mumbai Port Trust is dragging their legs and refusing to grant anything for the yacht Owners (not only us). The MPT has this very low intelligence plan to convert the Victoria and Princess docks to a container terminal.

I see it as a money racket to milk the central government of subsidies. For years to come. One opinion I heard was that the area would be covered and made into a container terminal and when the protests about the container trucks clogging up the city would rise to unbearable levels they would justify more land claims at the seawall and then develop it into housing area (meanwhile pumping money out of the central government by the bucket load).

The CST container terminal

If MPT would have any sense of honesty and integrity I think they should start developing the housing project straight away and forego their plans of graft. There is already a big container terminal (CST) on the other side of the Bay handling the incoming cargo to Mumbai. Writing about issues like this is easy but having scratched the surface a bit about the complexity of Indian democracy and politics, I also realize that nothing is easy in India and certainly not on issues where money is involved (is it anywhere?). Everyone has an opinion and a voice to contribute. E.g. the sealink project in Bandra easing the Mumbai traffic north has taken the government 14 years to complete.

A local "yachtsman"

Today the MPT decision makers are at station and hopefully we will have a positive reply in the next few days. Saini will though have to make the transit as I will be enjoying my vacation. Also congratulations for his promotion as officiating Master on Kalizma during my absence.

Fishing vessels leaving for Gujarat upon end of season