21 Jul 2019

And Then, A Big Boat...

How’s that tanker thingy working out then? According to our MSM it’s either Trumpton's fault, a result of Brexit, the Russians or global warming; take your pick.

There do seem to be one thing missing from the reporting. And that would be? Wot are the vessels owners doing about having one of their boats tied up, along with the crew they’re responsible for, and thus unavailable to generate revenue?

I’m going back a long time now, but from wot I remember, the flag a vessel sailed under was always called a flag of convenience. By that, a ship would fly the flag of the country it was registered in. Different countries have differing inspection regimes regarding strictness of various inspections required for the vessel to keep its certificate of fitness and insurance premiums at a manageable level. Even rigs, and many where ‘flagged’ in Panama and Liberia. No less safe but less picky and if faults were found the inspectors were happy to take your word that said faults would be corrected quickly and thus no shutdown or return visit, a great expense, was needed.

Wot I’m struggling to say is this; is it not primarily the vessels owners responsibility to get their boat and the boys onboard back?

Never mind, we can always send a rapid response team down there and grab it back for Stena and Sweden and if it does escalate and kick-off, it’s a long way away so it’s not as if those fellows of a certain persuasion have a fifth column of fit, fighting age fellows over here, right? Oh, wait a minute... 

Different set of circumstances, but do you remember this? How times change.

Quote:  Captain Jack Sparrow.

“You can always trust the untrustworthy because you can always trust that they will be untrustworthy. Its the trustworthy you can’t trust.”

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