Young Officer Dies on Voyage to Australia

A Chinese junior officer has died on board a bulk carrier just before it arrived in Australia’s Newcastle port.

The International Transport Workers Federation is investigating the tragedy that occurred on board the Marshall Islands-flagged Yangtze Oasis last week.

ABC News reports the union’s national coordinator, Dean Summers, as saying that a shroud of secrecy can hinder investigations on “flag of convenience” vessels. “We can’t find and we can’t engage the owners, we can’t engage the operators. All our information is being blocked and it's just so frustrating,” he said.

The case, potentially a suicide, is being heard by the New South Wales Coroner.

A Senate Inquiry into “flag of convenience” shipping is already underway in Australia. A separate inquest is also underway following three deaths on the bulk carrier Sage Sagittarius in 2012.

“We've realized a huge spike in deaths of seafarers on ships, and it's all put down to suicides,” said Summers, who is watching closely for the results of forensic tests on Yangtze Oasis. He has also been involved in the Sage Sagittarius investigations.

In an interview published by Human Rights at Sea last week, Summers said: “We get a lot of cases where people are reported missing over the side of ships. The insurance companies immediately say that it was suicide: “We don’t have to do anything about it, end of case.” The flag state investigates: “There’s no evidence. We’re not going to put any effort into this. We don’t have to, end of case.”

He hopes that Senate enquiry will lead to legislation changes that will achieve greater protection of seafarers in Australian waters.

However, many in the industry believe that the term “flag of convenience” is an out-dated concept, not reflecting the good safety record of many flag states, such as Marshall Islands, that operate what are alternately termed “open registers.” 

The International Chamber of Shipping made a submission to the Australian senate enquiry in September stating: “On the basis of the low number of deficiencies and detentions recorded for the inspection of ships under the control of the eight largest open registers, and the fact that all have undergone audits under the IMO Member State Audit Scheme, all of these flag States are regarded by the national Port State Control authorities covered by the Tokyo and Paris MOUs as being ‘low risk’ for the purpose of Port State Control targeting.” 

The submission cites the following graph in relation to seafarer deaths: