Ships or Floating Gulags
I am V. Shivakumar from Hyderabad, India.
I am requesting you to read my account of Essar Shipping’s and SPIC Tanker’s horrendous violation of human rights causing permanent handicap resulting in loss of ALL livelihood to me. Essar Shipping and SPIC Tankers are Indian shipping companies. Essar Ships and SPIC Tankers are of indian flag and registry.
In my case, Essar Shipping and SPIC Tankers have violated every tenet of human rights resulting in loss of ALL livelihood, for which they refuse to pay even a cent of compensation. This hair- raising narrative describes how they have rendered me an unemployed cripple. SPIC (Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation) has now closed down its shipping division, but the parent company is still manufacturing fertilisers.
I am at present vegetating, incapable of performing any work. I cannot even hear phone calls due to profound hearing loss in both ears. This is as all the officers on board Essar’s ship M.V. (Motor Vessel) Nand Swasti and SPIC Tanker’s M.T. (Motor Tanker) SPIC Pearl, forced me to labour in the engine room disallowing the use of ear muffs. This savage, inhuman behaviour and wanton violation of human rights has resulted in permanent irreversible profound hearing loss in both ears. The impact is stunning – other than loss of ALL livelihood, I am totally cut off from society, having become non-participative in discussions, conversations. My social life is now crippled. I have no recourse to entertainment like music, films, radio as I cannot hear clearly despite wearing very powerful hearing aids. Hence, I cannot get a job ashore as I cannot even hear phone calls. I am now living in penury for no fault of mine. On top of all this, when I pleaded, Essar Shipping and SPIC refused to pay me any compensation. Following is my narrative of the hellish torture I underwent on board M.V. (Motor Vessel) Nand Swasti, Essar Shipping and M.T. (Motor Tanker) SPIC Pearl, SPIC Tankers.
M.V. Nand Swasti (Essar ship)---
I was inhumanly overloaded with work, and denied rest. Duty hours were unbearably long (16-18 hours a day) and I was forbidden from entering the officer’s smoke room, saying that I don’t deserve any leisure and entertainment.
Though 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan and 3rd Engineer Mr. Rangarajan were getting ‘shipkeeping allowance’ in ports, they insisted that I should keep watch throughout the day and night, on all days, 24x7.This, when I was brand new to shipping, as a 5th Engineer. In daytime while working, I would not even be allowed a single tea break.
As the ship was loading coal at Visakhapatnam or Paradip and discharging at Chennai , sailing was for hardly a day, two days. Then there would be port stay for at least 7-8 days. All these days I would have to keep watch continuously, as the ship was running under UMS (unattended machinery space) condition. I would have to keep watch (attend to alarms and phone calls) all day and then forced to do shipkeeping watch all night (attend to alarms). At night, I would also have to change deck crane grab motor seals.
Working impossibly long hours, I could sleep only 4 hours/day, from 12.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m. Even in this period, I was expected to attend to alarms immediately. I used to be on tenterhooks while lying in my cabin bed. My mouth would go dry with fear, wondering whether the noise I was hearing was the engine room alarm or that made by the cranes, as both were similar. If I delayed by even a few seconds, confused as I was, the silence of my cabin would be shattered by the loud harsh jangle of the telephone, and I would hear the voice of the 2nd or 3rd Engineer at the other end, mouthing swear words and threatening to beat me up. The shipkeeping alarms were not located in my cabin, but in the 2nd and 3rd Engineer’s cabins. All this left me confused, semiconscious, and unable to sleep even for 4 hours. It was a nerve-wracking time.
The last straw was the ‘cabin-fire’ incident. The 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan, 3rd Engineer Mr. Rangarajan , and ’Senior’ 5th Engineer Mr. Anil Kumar Nair, had a ‘booze’ party with 3rd Engineer Mr. Radhakrishnan and 4th Engineer Mr. Ganeshan of M.V. Nand Shweta, a sister ship docked next to us at Paradip port, India. They partied in 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan’s cabin and while drinking alcohol, they vomited all over the cabin and set fire to the sofa and curtains. This, in a coal-carrying ship, at the coal-jetty in Paradip port. They called me to the cabin and physically assaulted me and forced me to wipe their vomit. It was revolting to see them vomiting, and my being forced to go down on all fours to wipe their stinking, still steaming vomit.
On top of all this, come morning, and the 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan asked me to clean his cabin once more, even though there was a steward for the job. I complained to the Chief Engineer Mr. R.Rajmohan Rao about it. As the Chief Engineer Mr. RR Rao said we should go and see the Captain Mr. Ambady, I felt calm and reassured that now everything is going to be okay. We came to the Captain’s office and he called us in and the Chief Engineer Mr. RR Rao informed the Captain Mr. Ambady about my complaint against the 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan asking me to clean his vomit-filthy cabin. Then began a bizarre ‘volte-face’. As I listened to them with my heart palpitating, the Captain and Chief Engineer started threatening me with dire consequences. They said they would tear my ‘CDC’(Continuous Discharge Certificate or seaman’s record book) and throw it into the sea. As I was by now sweating and trembling with fear, the 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan came in and he also started abusing me. The Captain and Chief Engineer then threw me to the wolves by telling the 2nd Engineer, in front of me, that he is free to order me to do any kind of work. They told me in front of the 2nd Engineer that if I refuse to clean the 2nd Engineer’s cabin, I cannot refuse to do any cleaning work in the engine room, for however long a time, which the 2nd Engineer might ask me to do. After being given such ‘carte-blanche’ powers, the 2nd Engineer Mr. Dhanapalan revengefully turned on me and ordered me to continuously clean the Generator Deck bilges. Bilges is the dark, dank, extremely noisy place, full of pipelines, running below the floorplates. Dawn to dusk, I was ordered not to show my face above the floorplates, forever cleaning the bilges with an oil soaked rag.
Forced to obey such brutal orders day after day, week after week, moth after month, my ears were assaulted (I was denied the use of ear muffs) by the extremely ear-shattering roar of high speed 4-stroke Auxiliary Engines. I begged for the use of ear muffs but I was denied them. Due to this, I still suffer from Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL), and early termination of my sea career, and not able to get a job ashore also. I am now severely handicapped despite wearing very powerful hearing aids on both ears. I can’t even hear phone calls. I am without a livelihood and living in penury.
M.T. (Motor Tanker) SPIC Pearl, SPIC Tankers----I was ordered to take out exhaust valve cages soaked in a drum filled with ‘carbon Remover’ chemical (a very dangerous, corrosive chemical), without wearing any gloves. My hands would itch and my skin got scarred from direct contact with this highly reactive chemical. My senior officers showed no remorse for ordering me to injure myself. This ship was also an arena for ‘casteism’. I was denied accommodation on the Officer’s Deck, even though cabins there were lying vacant and other 5th Engineers were allotted cabins there. All due to my belonging to the ‘wrong’ caste.
In 8 months I had to work so hard under such arduous conditions, that my entire skin peeled off my back, and my back became bloodied. I was not given proper medical attention. When I protested, Chief Engineer Mr. Sankaran and 2nd Engineer Mr. Varadaraja Babu, said that this is all the care that a 5th Engineer is entitled to.
Chief Engineer Mr. Ramaseshan used to insist on my not wearing ear muffs, saying that I must hear the sound of the machinery to ascertain whether there was anything wrong with it. Duty hours were also unbearably long (18 hours), as Mr. Ramaseshan insisted that I should trace all the ‘pipelines’ fast, and I should do so only after watchkeeping hours. Mr. Ramaseshan also banned me from entering the Officer’s Lounge, saying that I don’t deserve any leisure and entertainment. He would also throw nuts and bolts into the bilges and ask me to fetch. It became a ‘hellish existence’, what with his extremely foul-mouthed abuse (Simon Legree would have been proud). He used to behave in such an appalling manner, that in a previous voyage the entire crew had petitioned the office to take him off the ship (all to no avail, as he was the brother-in-law of the Managing Director).
But surely, the most cruel behaviour was that through 12 hours of nightwatch in ports, I would not be given anything to eat, not even one sandwich. On complaining, Chief Steward Mr. Natarajan said that it was company’s policy not to give the 5th Engineer anything to eat in the port nightwatch. I used to feel faint with hunger and exhaustion. It is dangerous to work like this as you might fall on the flywheel of running machinery and suffer loss of life or limb.
Even at other times, when I ate in the Duty Mess, Mr. Ramaseshan used to jeer at me and fitter Mr. Pillai would flick ash from his cigarette on to my plate.
But what was clearly a violation of human rights and safety practice was 3rd Engineer Mr. Muralidharan banning me from wearing ear muffs. He made it crystal clear that I cannot wear ear muffs. On complaining to the 2nd Engineer Mr. Babu, he refused to take any action as the 3rd Engineer was his fast friend and ‘boozing’ partner. Then onwards my ears underwent Noise Induced Hearing Loss and ‘tinnitus’ due to the ear-shattering roar from the 4-stroke medium speed twin Pielstick engines.
It may also be noted that not once in any foreign port was I allowed to go ashore.
Even highly ‘irregular’ orders had to be obeyed, due to ‘blackmail’. Chief Engineer Mr. Bons Chelliah refused to hand over my ‘watchkeeping certificate’, even though I had signed off on my CDC, i.e. my period of service in that ship was declared over. He said he would give the certificate only if I came on board the ship in anchorage on the next day, and worked. This is very irregular, as if I had suffered any mishap, the company would not have been held responsible.
All the engineers ‘celebrated’ the assassination of the indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by having a grand booze party and downing several pegs of scotch whisky. All the engineers were hard core supporters of the banned terrorist outfit LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Besides, the senior officers used to drink and with the connivance of the Chief Stewards Mr. Natarajan and Mr. Premchand, would enter the bottle of scotch whisky under my account. I had to pay for my senior officer’s whisky even though I used to not drink in those days. I protested about this on board ship and in the SPIC office ashore while settling accounts, but to no avail.
Thus, Noise Induced Hearing Loss and tinnitus, which I am forced to suffer due to the explicit orders of senior officers, led to early termination of my career and loss of livelihood. I am also not able to enter any other profession due to the severity of my handicap. My handicap is severe in that I suffer profound hearing loss in both ears. Even in spite of wearing very expensive and powerful hearing aids, I am unable to discriminate the words. So, I can’t even hear phone calls. Almost everything is unintelligible for me. I am now living in penury for no fault of mine.
My mother has passed away. I need to look after my sick sister and 80-year old father. Where will I go for money without any chance of getting a livelihood?
I have suffered loss of wages. I suffer mental anguish and distress. I am socially crippled and cannot entertain myself as I cannot hear clearly radio, TV, music or films. Due to no livelihood and regular income, I have not been able to marry and raise children. I have suffered loss of conjugal life.
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