Fleet management not learning its lesson from Cosco Busan disaster

“Gundecking” is a word used in the navy and merchant marine which means checking off an inspection report without actually doing the inspection.

It seems FLEET Management has been gundecking its way into trouble again.

Auditors say that in July officers on the Hong Kong-based operator’s 32,000 ton bulker Promise 2 had “pre-checked” a list of vessel operations before any of the operations were conducted.  Two officers were found to be unfamiliar with even basic emergency steering procedures. The vessel had also entered the port of Casablanca without first picking up a pilot at the point indicated in the voyage plan.

These were violations of a compliance program mandated on the company in the aftermath of its Cosco Busan 2007 collision with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The collision caused an oil spill that affected the Bay and area Pacific beaches.

A $10 million fine and three years of probation were imposed on the company in Feb. 2010 for its negligence in the spill.

Source: Fairplay