Mauritius oil spill: some thoughts

[Sailor John]

I'm just pasting the relevant paras from this BBC article here. To read the full piece, follow this link:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53819112

There are two 'theories' as per the BBC piece that explains why this ship ran aground.

1. Police said crew members questioned as part of their investigation informed them there had been a birthday party on the ship the day it ran aground.

2. Another theory being investigated is that the ship navigated close to the shore in order to pick up WiFi signal, the BBC's Yasine Mohabuth, in Port Louis, reports."

While interviewing survivors of merchant ship collisions in Kollam, they told me they noticed the ships that rammed into them were heading in unusual directions like almost due east when the general movement of traffic, at least off Kollam, is northerly or southerly along the coast. The fishers also alleged the ships were coming close to get mobile range. I made a note of that and now the same allegation is coming up with this ship.

This ship was bound for Brazil and normally ships on this route head for the Cape of Good Hope and then onwards into the south Atlantic towards Brazil. This track, the shortest route, to the Cape passes well clear of Mauritius so clear that it's impossible to even see the island, even its lights, at night. I have done this route several times and when I heard about this accident, I was wondering how this ship bound for Brazil got so close to Mauritius.

Coming back to our west coast, I am hoping the upcoming Traffic Separation Scheme will deter merchant ships from coming inshore to get within the range of mobile towers by restricting them to specific lanes. This will bring about some order and predictability in their movement along the coast and fishermen will be able to safely find ways to avoid them while fishing.