ANOTHER European casualty, another knee-jerk series of crew arrests.
The details of what happened to ground two bulkers off the Gibraltar coast over the weekend are yet to fully emerge, but that does not appear to have stopped the finger of blame pointing instinctively towards the crew.
It should be stressed that no charges have yet been made against any of the Fedra’s officers. Presumably this is because in the immediate aftermath of a dramatic sea rescue and clean–up operation there is little time to build a coherent criminal case against anyone.
If this is the case we must once again ask whether arrests are the most appropriate response under the circumstances.
The police investigation is running in parallel to a separate investigation by the Gibraltar Maritime Authority, a routine and necessary step in cases such as this. The administration’s investigation will examine all the technical aspects of the casualty without seeking to apportion blame.
The police investigation has no such luxury, but the least we can expect from them is professionalism and objectivity.
While the arrests are likely to raise a few immediate concerns and bad memories, there is a great deal to be celebrated about the immediate response to this latest casualty.
From the perilous night time rescue by Gibraltarian and Spanish emergency services on Friday night, to the efficient and exemplary pollution response operations, it seems the systems put in place along Europe’s coast are working.
This is important as these are hard–won organisational structures that have been built up in the aftermath of too many casualties. We can only hope that further lessons can be learned from this latest reminder that safety standards and systems are a very real and necessary part of the shipping industry.
