Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, May 12: It has been a long wait for Islanders to see the first sailing of Rs. 79.20 crore worth vessel, MV Campbell Bay. Islanders living in remote islands of Nicobar District were waiting anxiously for this 500 pax dream vessels for several years but all their dreams shattered when they heard that the vessels is actually a puzzle box, full of technical and mechanical defects.
After media uproar, Administration played safe and kicked the vessels back in the court of the Ship Building Yard and asked them to rectify all faults.
After several months of its arrival at Port Blair, M V Campbell Bay still looks sick and unfit for sailing. Though efforts are on to rectify all faults and press the ship back into the service the main problem is that the Yard is still unable to find the source of the vibration, the main defect of the ship.
When contacted the Director of Shipping Services, Captain K S Sesha Sai said that even the Department doesn’t know when the ship will be pressed into service.
“I don’t know, we are trying, there are some problems of vibrations and other construction deficiencies, which we are trying to know and trying to sort out. It was not constructed as per the design,” Captain Sesha Sai added.
Giving details about the defects the DSS said that vibrations and all are the part of guaranteed defects.
“After building a ship for within 12 months if any defect arises, it’s the builder’s responsibility to rectify it. Contract speed of the vessel was 16.5 knots and at that speed vibration is noticed & at 12 knots no vibration is noticed but we cannot accept it like that. Yard has to rectify it, we will not spend a penny on it. They have to give us the ship as per the contract agreement,” the Director added.
It seems that the Administration and the ABG Shipyard will have to slog for years to find out the source of all defects and then to rectify them one by one. “It’s a shame that even after so many months they have not been able to even defect the source of vibration, the main fault,” said a resident of Car Nicobar Island.
Till that time as a short gap arrangement the Administration will continue to siphon off tax payers’ money in chartered vessels like MF Samsun, which is nothing but a National Loss.
