Ukrainian cargo ship finally leaves Honolulu (04/07/96)

Ukrainian cargo ship finally leaves Honolulu

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The cargo ship Grigoriy Kozintsev finally left Honolulu in late February, five months after it was marooned near this tropical paradise, when its engines gave out. The final tab for the breakdown will be approximately $5 million, reported the Honolulu Advertiser.

Even after all the trouble, with no money for engine repairs or even for food for the sailors at times, the 519-foot vessel was not returning to Ukraine but set sail for Pusan, South Korea, where it was to take on more cargo.

The 17,000-ton ship with a crew of 24 was stranded 350 nautical miles from Honolulu on September 19, 1995, when its main engine broke down, even though it was supposedly repaired in Panama. The ship was hauling 13,646 tons of fishmeal from Chile to Japan.

The Japanese owners, Marubeni Corp., finally obtained a court order to transload the shipment, which was to be used as feed in Japanese aquaculture farms. The ship sailed after it received all needed clearances from the Coast Guard, the Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said a representative of the ship's Honolulu agent, Jardine Shipping Services.

By best estimates the $5 million in costs breaks down as follows: $3.8 million the Japanese cargo owners say they have spent to transship the cargo from Honolulu to Japan; $500,000 Jardine Shipping Services has had to pay in state dockage fees, fuel and provisions; and tens of thousands of dollars to fly in 12 German engineers, parts and a new crew to repair the engine.

What is left now is for lawyers to fight over who pays for what. The Grigoriy Kozintsev is owed by the Black Sea Shipping Co. (Blasco) but at the time the engine broke down the vessel was under charter to another company, the Black Sea Shipping Co. USA Inc.

Buck Ashford, a Honolulu attorney representing the Japanese firm, said his clients feel they are "owed a lot of money - at least the $3.8 million. They are not going to absorb that expense because they don't feel the breakdown was their fault." He explained that the fishmeal cost $8 million and that Blasco USA was paid $850,000 to haul the cargo to Japan.

Who is liable for the engine breakdown must also be determined. Klaus Kirsch, the German engineer who finally repaired the engine, said the engine appeared to have major problems even before the cargo was picked up in Chile. The engine was overhauled in China early last year, and supposedly repaired when engine problems appeared in Panama after the cargo was on board.

| Home Page |