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THE
Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has lifted the
grounding order against the MV Ocean Trust, a freighter
vessel of Oceanic Container Lines Inc., on condition the
company secure adequate insurance coverage for its
cargo, crew and liability against probable damage to
third parties.
Official
papers obtained by the BusinessMirror show that Marina
has served the order to Oceanic last Tuesday after the
agency’s board of directors, headed by the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DOTC), approved the
provisional lifting during a special board meeting
Monday.
The
order will take effect until end of the year. The
provisional lifting of the order was given after
Oceanic, owner of the MV Ocean Papa that sunk on June 21
at the height of typhoon Frank, assured DOTC that the
company is in talks with Pioneer Insurance and Surety
Corp. for adequate insurance coverage from various
Protection and Indemnity (P&I) clubs abroad.
“…The
grounding/suspension order dated on June 30, 2008 is
hereby provisionally lifted, subject to the condition
imposed in the order dated August 8, 2008 on the
submission of the insurance coverage for the enumerated
risks therein but to be extended until December 31,
2008,” the order said.
“Failure
of respondent [Oceanic] to comply with the terms and
condition… will constrain this authority to reinstitute
the grounding/suspension order,” it added.
According to the order, Oceanic should have P&I
insurance covering death of crewmembers, cargoes and
third party.
This
signals that Marina is on the path of imposing a
mandatory P&I coverage to all cargo-carrying vessels in
light of the recent sea tragedies involving Oceanic and
those of Sulpicio Lines Inc.
Presently, only passengers have mandatory insurance
coverage. Cargo insurance is optional.
Marina,
on the other hand, has no choice but to lift the
grounding order after the Department of Trade and
Industry, other groups and local government units have
“advised” the agency that there is a void in the number
of ships for domestic trade.
Oceanic
said there are about 156 20-footer containers waiting to
be loaded on Ocean Trust. These contain vital cargo,
such as parts for the geothermal plant in Bacolod, food
stuff, construction materials and school supplies.
“Failure
to deliver these goods on time is certain to prejudice
the public and possibly invite their wrath, of which
[Oceanic] is not ready to face especially in these
times,” the company said in a petition to Marina.
Earlier
this month, Marina also lifted the suspension order
against MV Ocean Hope, also owned by Oceanic, along with
two other cargo-passenger vessels of Sulpicio Lines Inc.
Still
grounded are two other Oceanic vessels, MV Ocean Quest
and MV Ocean Faith.
The
entire fleet of Oceanic were grounded a day after the
sinking of MV Ocean Papa off Maralison Island in
Antique.
Of 160
containers the vessel carried, about 80 were missing
including those that contain 80 drums of the chemical
called toluene diiscocyante.
Oceanic
has not yet retrieved a single cargo that went lost at
the height of typhoon Frank. It has hired the services
of Far East Scuba Institute Inc. to search for the
missing chemicals.
Officials said the cargo maybe at the bottom of the
ocean unreachable by divers unequipped for deep diving.
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