26 SEPTEMBER 2017 • FOGHORN HSC CODE ANNEX 10 ISO 9001:2008 Proud supplier of the New York Citywide Ferry Project marinegroupbw.com | leah@marinegroupbw.com | [619] 621-2220 Marine Group Boat Works is the finest California boatbuilder and repairer of steel and aluminum high-speed ferries, catamarans and passenger vessels up to 220 feet-long. Operating two shifts, six days per week for fast turnarounds and minimized vessel time out-of-service. WHENALLYOUHAVEISAWEEK... YOU’REIN YOU’REOUT spaces through deteriorated hatch covers and deck plating. The S.S. El Faro sank in a hurricane in the Bahamas on October 1, 2015. Prior to its sinking, the vessel was tracked through its Automated Identification System (AIS). Shortly before sinking, the master reported that he was ordering abandon ship. The vessel sank with 33 persons embarked. There were no survivors. Several days after the passage of the storm, the USNS Apache (T-ATF-172) located the vessel in 15,000 feet of water. Ten months later, the USNS Apache, with the Navy’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) CURV 21, retrieved the SS El Faro’s voyage data recorder (VDR). With the loss of all hands, the AIS track and the voyage data recorder with its 24+ hours of bridge conversations will help to answer some of the key questions that will arise during an in- vestigation. The Marine Board’s of Investigation for the SS Poet and SS Marine Electric have been, and the SS El Faro will be, challenged to find relevant information from certificates, inspection records, shipyard work lists, company business records, and similar information. There were only three survivors from the 101 seaman involved left to provide firsthand accounts of the disasters. The investigations and witness testimony pointed out the limitations and the misinformation that sometimes arises from documents not subject to cross ex- amination of the principals behind the document’s preparation. The S.S. Marine Electric Marine Board brought the worth of certificates and inspection/survey reports as in- dependent information into question when they could not be supported or tested by other independent sources. Documents are, by their very nature, representations of a whole and they are dependent on the skill and diligence of the preparer. Technology tends to be a more complete and a more accurate in- formation source that overcomes may of the document shortcomings. Ideally, marine boards look for information that can be validated through firsthand accounts, support- ing documentation, physical test or visual examination. Technology can assist in supplying some of that needed information, particularly in deep draft vessel casualties. It cannot, however, substitute for firsthand accounts of surviving key witnesses. PVA has not supported the in- stallation of voyage data recorders on inland and nearshore vessels and had resisted automatic identification system installations until the cost of the equipment and installation could bring the cost/benefit relationship into one supporting the installations, one of the Administrative Procedure Act’s tests, into focus and compliance with the intent of the Act. We believe that VDRs for our vessels cannot meet the cost/benefit test and their absence has not been shown to have reversed the outcome of relevant and modern day investigations. n REGULATORYREPORT