Riverside police

At 8:45 a.m., the investigation continued.

Like yesterday, we first investigated the ship and crew certificates of the South Korean freighter "Yangmi", and then questioned the crew one by one.

The only thing that is different from yesterday is that the translator Han Yu really plays a role, constantly correcting the content relayed by the Korean translator.

It can be heard that the translator hired by South Korea from Donghai is very professional, but does not know much about shipping. It is normal for the words to fail to express what is meant.

Because translation takes time, the investigation efficiency was not very high. The questioning continued until 11 o'clock in the night before the captain of the Korean freighter "Yangmi" was able to make a final statement.

This final statement is very important. The content of the statement will be submitted to the Maritime Safety Administration in the form of a document. According to international practice, this document is the maritime statement submitted by South Korea!

Compared with the captain of China Shipping, the Korean captain is much calmer.

He stood up, holding the statement he had prepared, and read it slowly.

He was speaking English, and Han Xiangning could roughly understand it after half a year of practice.

Director Liu, Lao Guan, Lao Wu and others did not understand English and could only listen to the translators hired by the Korean side.

"On September 3, our ship loaded 2866.46 tons of toluene and left South Korea for Jiangyin, China. It arrived at the Yangtze River Estuary Pilot Station in China at 9:30 a.m. on September 4. It arrived at No. 30 floating anchorage in Zhangjiagang at 21:00 and passed through China Maritime regulations permitting, anchor left at 6 knots in the water.”

"At 1:15 in the morning, the watchman Park Yonggang discovered that there was a ship moving towards our ship in the direction of 285 degrees ahead. The crew on duty shouted 'danger' to the ship many times and sounded the warning bell, but the 'Yuchang' ship continued to ram into me. On the bow of the ship, the two ships were less than 200 meters apart at the time, and our ship had no time or conditions to take collision avoidance measures."

"At 1:25, the rear side of the port side of the ship 'Yuchang' hit the bow of our ship. At that time, our ship could not enter the car or lift anchor. At 1:25, I entered the bridge and called the pilot. At 1:33, The pilot entered the bridge, prepared the vehicle, and tried to lift the anchor several times but failed, and the ship 'Yuchang' gradually moved to the port side of our ship."

"At 1:45, our ship began to be able to weigh anchor. At 1:48, the pilot ordered to turn left and move forward two. At 1:50, our ship sailed to the second anchorage with the ship 'Yuchang'. During the mooring process During the incident, our ship lost the left anchor and half of the anchor chain, and the bow of the ship was damaged, with a dent of about 3.5 by 3 meters."

The Korean captain waited for the translation to finish, looked around at everyone, and said confidently: "Because the 'Yuchang' ship was anchored incorrectly, drifted and collided with our ship, our ship should not be responsible for this accident!"

The pilot is outside and has given evidence to others just now.

If we ignore water traffic rules and just start from simple emotions, the Korean freighter was hit and indeed had no responsibility in this accident.

The second officer of the "Yuchang" claimed yesterday that he called the "Miyang" many times, but the "Miyang" did not respond and did not take any measures to avoid collision. This is completely untenable.

First of all, there was someone on duty at the Zhangjiagang Traffic Control Center at night, and the Zhangjiagang Traffic Control Center heard the "Mi Yang" calling the "Yuchang" freighter. There were several ships passing by Buoy No. 30 at night and anchoring near Buoy No. 30, and the crew members also heard about it on the radio.

Secondly, the second officer of the freighter "Yuchang" discovered that the anchor had shifted at 1:15 in the morning. He claimed yesterday that the "Yangmi" collided with their ship, but in fact it was their ship that lost control and crashed into someone else's house. . And the two ships were already very close when they were discovered. As the Korean captain said, the collision was inevitable, no matter what measures were taken.

The reason why there is no response from both parties when you call me and I call you is purely due to language barrier.

The "Yuchang" is a domestic trade ship owned by China Shipping and has been operating on offshore routes. The second officer and the sailor on duty did not understand English. They called the Korean freighter in Mandarin. The crew on duty of the Korean freighter could not understand.

The crew on duty of the freighter "Yangmi" discovered that the "Yuchang" had moved anchor and was ramming towards them. They immediately called for danger. The Chinese crew members on the "Yuchang" couldn't understand either. They shouted back and forth, all of which were incomprehensible. "The chicken talks to the duck."

However, judging from the time point, even if you can understand it, it will not help. Because when the crew on duty of the two ships discovered the danger, it was too late to take collision avoidance measures.

In short, the investigation situation is extremely unfavorable to the "Yuchang".

Mr. Tang frowned and hesitated to speak.

Director Liu looked at the Korean captain, then at Mr. Tang, and sighed secretly.

Han Xiangning didn't care so much, raised his head and asked in English: "Mr. Captain, when will your statement be submitted?"

“That’s right now, that’s our statement.”

"Okay, you can go out."

"Thanks."

It can be seen that Korean captains attach great importance to professional honor.

In order to accept the investigation, he put on a straight captain's uniform and managed his figure well. He politely handed the statement to Han Xiangning, then put on his big-brimmed hat and bowed slightly to everyone before striding out of the interview room.

In contrast, Chinese captains are a bit slovenly, which may have something to do with the fact that the social status of seafarers has dropped significantly in recent years.

More than ten years ago, seaman was also a very good profession in China. Not to mention other things, the salary that is more than ten times higher than working onshore and the ability to purchase imported goods are the envy of countless people.

Han Yuzheng was lamenting, and representatives of the Korean shipping company and the Korean Shipowners Mutual Insurance Association also stood up to say goodbye to Han Xiangning, Liu Bureau and others.

"Liu Bureau, Han Ke, you can't listen to their words!" Mr. Tang said eagerly.

Before Director Liu could speak, Han Xiangning collected the materials and said in a neither humble nor condescending manner: "Mr. Tang, we will not listen to partial beliefs and only believe in facts. The Korean side's statement has been submitted. When will your statement be submitted?"

"tomorrow morning."

"Okay, it's almost twelve o'clock, go back and rest early."

After finishing speaking, Han Xiangning pretended that the junior student did not exist, and walked out of the interrogation room with Bureau Liu, Lao Guan, Lao Wu and others, carrying his briefcase.

Mr. Tang was so anxious that he pulled Han Yu and asked, "Xiao Han, what should we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"How to deal with this accident!"

"You just heard it. Their attitude is very tough and they are determined not to be responsible for this accident. Even if the Maritime Safety Administration wants to help you mediate, there is no chance."

"I know mediation is unrealistic, I mean the maritime investigation report."

"The investigation is ongoing, and the maritime investigation report is not available for a week."

Han Yu knew very well what Mr. Tang was thinking. He looked outside and said meaningfully: "Whether the Korean ship is responsible or not, it doesn't matter if you say it or not. It doesn't matter if they say it. The Maritime Safety Administration needs to investigate further." Produce evidence that convinces both parties.”

Mr. Tang asked: "What evidence?"

Han Yu took out his mobile phone to check the time and said lightly: "I'm not sure now. You'll know tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay, please."

"Not to mention please, this is what I should do."

Han Yudu said it for this reason. Mr. Tang was too embarrassed to ask again, so he could only go back worriedly.

Just like last night, Han Xiangning went upstairs to have a closed-door meeting with Bureau Liu, Lao Guan, Lao Wu and others, which lasted until almost twelve o'clock.

Han Yu handed over the helmet, rode on the little Qingqi and yawned to the sky and the earth and asked: "How was the discussion?"

"How about what?"

"Are the Korean ships responsible?"

Water traffic management is different from shore traffic management, especially in terms of collision avoidance. Who is responsible and who is not responsible is sometimes vague and really difficult to define.

Han Xiangning did not answer his question, but got into the car and put her arms around his waist and said helplessly: "The Korean freighter must be responsible, but the extent of the responsibility is debatable. More importantly, the Korean people must be convinced."

"What's the responsibility?"

“Definitely in terms of anchorage safety.”

"Isn't it responsible for the Korean freighter to lift anchor and break away?"

"The 'Yuchang' was out of control at the time. The tonnage of the 'Yuchang' was several times that of the 'Yangmi'. If it didn't break away in time, it would be stuck by the 'Yuchang' and rush downstream. It would probably follow it. The 'Yuchang' capsized together and may also hit other ships."

Han Xiangning took a deep breath and continued: "And the pilot was on the ship when it escaped. The pilot did not raise any objections to the series of measures taken after the collision."

The pilot came from the Yangtze River Pilotage Center and was also an experienced captain.

In other words, the separation itself is fine, but it is unrealistic for China Shipping to make a fuss about the separation of Korean freighters.

Just when Han Yu was thinking about how to prove that the Korean freighter was also responsible, Han Xiangning leaned on his shoulder and asked: "San'er, China Shipping can be said to be your old company. Do you really want to help China Shipping?"

"The China Shipping Bureau today is not the Shipping Bureau of the past, and it really can't be considered my old company."

"What's the meaning?"

"China Shipping was established on the basis of East China Sea Shipping Bureau, Dalian Shipping Company and Guangzhou Shipping Company, of which the Shipping Bureau is only a part."

Han Yu sighed lightly and continued: "But then again, China Shipping is indeed quite difficult. It has been less than two years since the restructuring. It sounds like a central enterprise with more than 250 billion assets, but it is actually a mess."

Han Xiangning really didn't understand this and asked curiously: "How bad is it?"

"It's terrible, very terrible. There are so many debts. We mainly rely on the oil and coal coastal transportation business ordered by the superior authorities. Passenger transportation is not as good as every year. The ocean business is just a supplement to coastal transportation. You know what I used to do when I was running a ship. What did your old colleagues say?"

"What did you say?"

"They just wait for the company to sell the boat. Selling a boat can pay them a few months' salary. If they don't sell the boat, there will be no money to pay them salary."

"Living by selling boats?" Han Xiangning asked in surprise.

"The problem is that even though there are many ships, the average age of the ships can reach 14.5 years. Most of them only have a load capacity of about 10,000 tons. Even if they are sold, they will not make much money!"

"Don't you have ocean-going business?"

"The ocean business has only been launched for a few years, and there is no international business network. I heard that they are now putting all their money on ocean container transportation. It may be that they made some money by renting a few containers to run foreign trade, and they have tasted Sweetness.”

"put all one's eggs in one basket!"

"There is no other way. Otherwise, what else can we do?"

"No wonder their ship didn't join China Shipbuilding Insurance. If China Shipbuilding Insurance had backed it up, Mr. Tang would definitely not be as anxious as he is now."

CSSC is the abbreviation of China Shipowners Mutual Insurance Association.

The Shipowners' Mutual Insurance Association is also called a Protection and Indemnity Association. It is a bit like the farmers' mutual aid cooperative that was not established back then. I pay as much as I have for as many ships as I can. If something happens to the ship, the association will provide insurance and compensation, and even lawsuits can be filed by the association. When the association comes forward, to put it bluntly, it means risk sharing.

It seems similar to commercial insurance, but in fact it is not commercial insurance. It is not even supervised by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and is outside the laws and regulations of the insurance industry.

It is worth mentioning that the Shipowners' Mutual Insurance Association is said to be non-profit, but the membership fee is not cheap. Sometimes it even requires members to pay additional membership fees. Therefore, many offshore freighters have not joined the association, and inland waterway freighters are not even within the service scope of the association.

Moreover, China Shipbuilding Insurance is spearheaded by COSCO. It can be said to be an association of COSCO, and all COSCO’s ships have joined. Shipping companies like China Shipping will definitely think, if I join the membership, don’t I just give you money and help your fleet share risks?

In short, when there is no accident, I feel that there is no need to join the club, but when there is an accident, I regret not joining the club.

Thinking of this, Han Yu sighed lightly: "The company belongs to the state. If there is money, the leaders of China Shipping will definitely let all its ships join the association. The key is that there is no money. Without money, there is nothing we can do."

Han Xiangning sympathized with Zhong Hai who was in difficulty and whispered: "Then you have to help them find a way."

"I've called the bench workers, and the water situation notice will be sent as soon as I get to work tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll call them to meet again when the water situation announcement arrives."