Gozo ferry captains 'breaching safety rules'
'There were no safety issues'
A ship master suspended eight months ago after making damning revelations about Gozo Channel ferries said yesterday captains with the ferry line were breaching international marine safety measures.
Captain Mario Grech said the vessels were not equipped with harnesses to secure heavy vehicles in the hold and captains were not making sure safety drills were carried out by all crew, when asked by Magistrate Anthony Ellul to illustrate his claims.
He was testifying in a civil case challenging Gozo Channel's decision to suspend him on September 25, a day after he filed a judicial protest claiming serious safety breaches by the ferry company.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had intervened to ensure Capt. Grech still received his wages, equivalent to about €30,000 annually. The company wanted to suspend him without pay. He remains suspended.
Sticking to his claims, Capt. Grech said his suspension meant he lost allowances equivalent to a third of his wage and pointed out that the move had been distressing because he felt treated like he had done something wrong. "I'm very convinced these complaints are justified," he said.
He said he had expected a reaction when he decided to file the judicial protest - which, he had said, followed a series of unheeded warnings - but he did not expect a suspension.
In his protest, Capt. Grech said, among other things, there was a shortage of life-saving equipment on board and claimed that water tanks on three ferries had become infected with the potentially-deadly Legionella bacteria.
The company rebutted the allegations, pointing out, for instance, that it had dealt with the Legionella case in line with procedure.
His revelation that a boatswain had been employed on the strength of forged documents was proven in a court case, which found the crew man guilty of forgery in April.
Capt. Grech insisted yesterday that, despite the public embarrassment, the company was still ignoring some safety procedures. He insisted he was the only who carried out all the safety drills that were required and made sure all crew members carried them out.
He said there were no harnesses to secure heavy vehicles in the hold and referred to a particular two-hour trip from Mġarr to Sa Maison in rough seas, which he had to abort because he did not have this equipment available.
Ferry line chairman Joseph Grech confirmed the incident but argued there were no safety issues, so much so that another captain did the same trip two hours later and did not face problems.
The chairman denied the claim about the safety drills, saying Gozo Channels' operations were vetted by an international shipping audit firm, which only found minor issues that were sorted before Capt. Grech filed his judicial protest.
He explained the decision to suspend the ship master, arguing that, with the judicial protest, Capt. Grech had made his position untenable because he had claimed he was being forced to sail in unsafe conditions. At that point, the company had no alternative but to accept his claims and suspend the service or reject the claims and suspend him. "We had no choice but to suspend him," the chairman said.