On October 1, 2015 the cargo ship El Faro was caught in Hurricane Joaquin and sunk while on course for San Juan, Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, Florida. Subsequently, all 33 crew members were lost. The U.S. Coast Guard led a two-week hearing concerning all of the details surrounding the tragedy, calling the captain of El Faro’s sister ship, El Yunque, technicians that worked on El Faro, and TOTE, the company that owns the ship for answers.
All testimonies from the technicians that worked on the ship in port point to the ship being in good working order. Kevin Stith, the captain of the El Yunque, had been chief mate under Captain Michael Davidson on El Faro in the past and claimed that captain of the El Faro had a solid storm plan in place. Captain Stith had witnessed the signals of bad weather en route from San Juan to Jacksonville on the El Yunque and exchanged emails with Captain Davidson about it. Stith warned that the weather forecasts were not accurate and Davidson responded that they were aware and taking precautions and were going to “shoot up under the storm”.
Families of the lost mariners are taking exception to some of the procedures that were performed prior to the ship leaving port. TOTE’s legal representation holds firm that although Captain Michael Davidson was receiving inaccurate and outdated weather forecasts, the route and trip planning fell solely on the shoulders of the captain of the El Faro. However, the ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) claims that the TOTE operator of the El Faro did not report the accurate weight of the ship, possibly contributing to the accident. The confusion stems from some recent construction to the vessel that added additional weight.
Court records show that TOTE has currently settled with ten families of the El Faro deceased, awarding each family $500,000 including the families of the five Polish contractors that were retrofitting the engine room. Families that have not settled, as well as different family members whose families have already settled, are still moving forward with the case against the company and will need a Jones Act lawyer to prove its negligence of the ship lead to unseaworthiness. The settlements are being presented by TOTE as their effort to help those families affected by the tragedy of El Faro.
TOTE is under the most scrutiny over the procedures taken, negligence, and the alleged health of the ship, but nothing yet has been established as the sole contributor. The second round of hearings has come to an end and there is to be a third scheduled for later on this year.
