Company denies missing ship was unfit to sail

By Abbas Al Lawati

Dubai, August 05, 2007 - The shipping agency operating the lost cargo vessel Reef Azania rejected suggestions that the ship was unsafe to sail, saying its delay in sailing from Dubai was due to "general maintenance" and late arrival of cargo.

The Zambezi Shipping Agency said in a statement that freighter Reef Azania was a seaworthy ship that had "all the required international shipping and maintenance certificates", adding that if the ship is confirmed to have sunk, dependants of crew members will be compensated "in accordance with the applicable legislation".

Contact was lost with Reef Azania on June 24, six days after it left Port Rashid in Dubai on its way to the Comoros Islands via the Seychelles.

The vessel was carrying 14 crew members - eight Tanzanians, two Myanmese, two Indians, and two Pakistanis.

A Port Rashid official, however, told Gulf News in addition to routine maintenance the vessel was also undergoing repairs.

The Reef Azania docked at Port Rashid on May 30 and left for Seychelles 19 days later.

According to the official, cargo vessels usually stay at the port for "two to three days".

"They want to do as much business as they can. Every extra day they stay here costs them".

Zambezi maintained that the delay was caused because of late cargo, adding that "planned general maintenance" was undertaken during the wait.

Search status

The shipping agency made public the disappearance of the ship almost one month after the loss of contact following a Gulf News report citing an International Maritime Bureau (IMB) official as saying it was believed that the vessel may have sunk.

The company has since been tightlipped about the status of the search upon the insistence of its insurers, its officials have said.

Frustrated relatives from Zanzibar, India, Pakistan and Canada have told Gulf News they have been kept in the dark about the status of the ship.

Zambezi maintains that the relatives of crew members "know as much as we do". On July 28, Zambezi sent a letter to the relatives of a crew member saying the search for Reef Azania has been scaled down, expressing regret about having to "acknowledge the possibility that she may have sunk".

The Director of Zanzibar Marine Services, Abdullah Jum'a, told Gulf News there were no signs of sinking or piracy so far. "If it would have sunk, we would have found floating bodies, debris or fuel, and if it had been hijacked, a ransom call would have come within three days," he said.

'No piracy'

According to Noel Choong, head of IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, the lawlessness in Somalia has led to a significant rise in piracy cases off the country's coast.

But piracy is unlikely in this case since contact with the vessel was lost 500 nautical miles from the Somali coast, he said.

"Pirates rarely venture beyond 200 nautical miles off the coast," Choong said.

Source: Gulfnews