Ship captain seeks Marina’s action on outrigger complaint

Ship captain seeks Marina’s action on outrigger complaint
September 18, 2019

A ship captain and a maritime advocate said he has forewarned the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) many years ago about the stability of outriggers that could have avoided sea accident, but his recommendation has fallen on deaf ears.

Capt. Edwin M. Itable, saddened by the Guimaras sea tragedy, wrote to the Presidential Complaint Center (PCC) on August 15, to report that he has already called the attention of Marina as early as 2015.

The Iloilo-Guimaras Strait multiple boat accidents resulted to the loss of lives of 31 passengers. The motorbancas M/B Chi-chi, M/B Keziah 2 and M/B Jenny Vince were involved on separate sinking incidents on August 3.

In his letter, Itable said that last Oct. 15, 2015 they recommended to Marina through lawyer Gloria Victoria-Banas, deputy administrator for operations that they should review and take into account the construction and the number of passengers of boat that depends on outriggers for stability.

“Regrettably, up to date no action was taken in these foregoing premises,” he said in a letter to PCC.

PCC Director 4 Jaime Mabilin has forwarded his complaint to Marina Officer in charge Administrator Vice Admiral Narciso A. Vingson.Jr..

Itable asked Vingson to take benevolent action on his letter recommendation with regards to the Marina Circular 05 series of 2007 on rules and regulations on stability requirement for Philippine registered domestic ships.

Itable has suggested that the hull construction of a “ship that relies on outriggers for stability” must be “tumblehomed mid-ship section.”

He said there were two ways to do empirical calculations to determine the passenger capacity of a ship.

These were heel due to passenger weight distribution test and heel due to turning at full speed test.

In a related development, stakeholders in the maritime industry vowed to sign a manifesto that would no longer use wooden-hulled ships, for safety and security in open seas.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade strongly pushed for “no wooden–hull vessels”.

“Accidents happen because of wanton neglect. Wooden hulled vessels should be eliminated. I said it again no more wooden hulled passenger vessels. Use fiber glass ships, instead. All passengers must be comfortable and should arrive safe. Let safety be a matter of concern, culture and advocacy,” he said.