MV KAIRALI

Case study of MV KAIRALI ship owned by Kerala shipping cooperation

1. MV KAIRALI BY JEWEL SHIBU BSC 19 AMET UNIVERSITY

2. The ship was initially built in 1965  in Norway and named as  Oscarsord . In 1975 Kerala Shipping Corporation (KSC) purchased the ship for a sum of 5.81  crores  and renamed as  Kairali . This bulk carrier ship was able to carry 19000 tonnes of cargo Including Captain Mariadas Joseph and chief engineer Abhi Mathai there were 51 employees onboad

3. LAST VOYAGE MV  Kairali  sailed from Mormugoa on 30 June 1979. The ship was travelling to Rostock, Germany via Djibouti with 20,538 tonnes of iron ore. When the ship was ready to sail it loaded cargo which exceeds its loadline and the captian warned this to company but the company pressurized him to go forward Also there was a damage in ship radar and the company refused to repair it

4. There were communications from and to the ship on 1st, 2nd, and 3 July 1979 through the Bombay Radio, (the official agency to communicate messages to and from the ship). The last message received from the ship was on 3 July 1979 at 8:00 pm(500 miles away from Mormugoa). On july 8 the ship should reach Djibouti for bunkering On 11 July 1979 ,  Kairali ’s shipping agents in Djibouti, reported to KSC that the ship had not reported at Djibouti for fuelling so the search operations started but no use they cant find anything

5. SEARCH EFFORTS There was a delay in the search effort, which started only on 16 July 1979. The Indian Navy was alerted and undertook reconnaissance flights in the area. After making several flights in the area from where  Kairali  had sent the last message, they gave up search operations. The inquiry conducted by the Indian Navy and Lloyd's of London declared  Kairali  missing some 500 miles off Margao .

6. PROBABLE CAUSES OF LOSS The exact reason the ship went missing is still unknown. The following causes have been attributed by the relatives of crew members and people who worked in shipping industry Excess cargo, the ship had a capacity of 19,000 tonnes , allegedly carried 20,500 tonnes of iron ore during the voyage in total disregard of safety norms. Also the mandatory process of balancing the cargo after it was loaded was not followed. This would have caused the cargo to shift in rough waves and eventually she could have sunk in high waves. Faulty Radar, There is an allegation that the radar of the ship was under damage and Captain Mariyadas Joseph of MV  Kairali  refused to set sail on the morning of 3 July. But he was forced to commence the journey on the evening of the same day without repairing the radar. Bad weather, Owing to bad weather and rough waves the ship may have broken into pieces and sunk in high seas. Pirate attack ,The ship may have been subject to a hijacking by pirates and the crew members taken to some uninhabited islands to fend for themselves, while the ship was taken to another location. As the ship was rumoured to have a faulty radar the pirates could not be detected before they attacked the vessel.  Kairali was sailing with a cargo of iron ore in the month of July, which is a peak monsoon month. In all probablities the vessel may have loaded cargo with high moisture content and possibly exceeding the TML. This may have given rise to a condition were the cargo may have liquefied and eventually causing the vessel to capsize.

7. CRITICISMS Delay in search operations: There was a delay of about 12 days in starting the search operations. The delay was inexplicable given that the captain and headquarters exchanged a routine message every noon during the voyage. Delay in releasing information to public domain The ship's disappearance was publicly announced only after a Kerala Shipping Corporation agent in Djibouti contacted the company's headquarters in Kochi on 11 July, informing them of the ship's failure to arrive. The vessel was supposed to have docked in Djibouti on 8 July. The news appeared in the Kerala’s press only on 15 July.

8. COMPENSATION The ship was insured, and an insurance claim of 6.40 crores was paid to the Kerala Shipping Corporation (KSC) by the insurance company .