Once upon a time there was a vessel called Süderoog. Retold, in case you forgot already
She was virtually shiny and new,
having been delivered from the shipyard in December 2005.
Things were going very well for the
Süderoog until the global financial crisis started to make it's effects felt in
the chartering markets, and by the end of 2008 it was virtually
impossible to find her any employment,. The brave people working for her
Owners (Briese Schiffahrts & Co KG MS Süderoog in Leer, Germany)
and BBC Chartering & Logistic (also of Leer, Germany) tried
all they could to get the vessel employed, but to no avail. So finally,
regretfully, the only economical solution was for the vessel to be laid up.
Thus it was that during December of
that year most of the crew of MS Süderoog were disembarked and the vessel was
laid up. Only two crew members were left on board to look after her while
she went into an enforced hibernation. Moored at the quayside, unladen,
waiting......it's impressive cranes dormant,.
And so her plight continued, all
the way through 2009.
These sad messages reflect our
vessel's plight :
Of the usual nine ratings on board
only two were there from January until July, then only an able-seaman/cook
until the year end. The time must have dragged interminably for this one
poor soul.
Here is a worksheet showing the
actual crew variances for the year :
"Not, much of a story!",
do I hear you say? Perhaps, but in September strange things had started
to happen. Not on board the ship, but on dry land.
A message was sent on the 21st
September from Briese's internal crewing department, then 'Leda Shipping GmbH'
asking an offshore 'umbrella' management company in Monaco to issue invoices in
the name of the offshore corporation (ITCC) used for invoicing the provision of
ratings to the owners for a full compliment of officers being on board the ship
for the first six months of the year
So there had been Officers on
board? Where had they come from? Why was ITCC charging for them
when they normally only supplied ratings? Had ITCC also paid their wages?
Where had the vessel been to if it had had a full crew on board? There
must have been crew lists for the port of call records, agents disbursement
accounts for theses calls bunkers and supplies bought, air tickets
arranged and paid for, and a whole lot more.. Were we faced with
a 'phantom crew'? Had the 'Süderoog' been making phantom voyages upon the
high seas all this time instead of languishing in some forgotten corner of a
port as we all had been led to believe? Had the vessel been under a highly
sensitive military charter?
More intrigue was to come...... it seemed the story was not closed, a
request was received for an in-house travel agent to reissue invoices for
flights to another vessel to the 'Süderoog' instead !!! And on
December 28th a definitive message seemed to explain all
:...........................
and this was the attachment:
This was pretty serious stuff.............................and it continued over
the next two days
28th December
29th December
Finally culminating with:
Hellor,
@@ asked me to get back to you in
this matter. Indeed some of the previously issued invoices/credit notes are not
required anymore. Here is how the figures will officially enter into
our books:
(1) Lumpsum USD 24.100,00
01.01.2009 - 05.07.2009
=>
invoices 19667,19909,20200,20473,20712,20913,21118 credit note 22587
(2) Lumpsum USD 6.600,00
06.07.2009 - 31.12.2009
=>
invoices 22588-22593
(3) wages paid by ITCC on
behalf of Süderoog
=> invoices
19708,19947,20238,20510,20749,20950,21153
Invoices/CN not needed (as
you mentioned below): CN 21254, 22581-22586 Inv. 19643,19885,20176,20449,20691,20892
Which you can see
here.................
This is only the crewing of the vessel for half a year...............Can you
imaging what might be needed for the Charterer's accounts, Agents Disbursement
Accounts, Bank Statements (!!!! ????) Bunkers, Lubes, Travel and
Transport,
