Chapter 927: Driving a freighter to surf the Internet

Khedira couldn't understand how the lack of Indian crew members was connected with the responsibility for the ship?

Chen Cheng explained: "Currently, India is the country with the largest increase in seafarers in the world. The growth rate is very rapid. In a few years, I'm afraid that at least half of the world's seafarers will come from India. This is their country's development policy and is part of their 'national strategy.'"

Khedira said: "Then why don't we use Indian crew members?"

Chen Cheng sighed and said, "India has 300 million illiterate people, and more than half don't even have a junior high school diploma. Have you ever thought about how they obtained seafarer qualifications?"

Khedira froze in place. Being a crew member is not something that one can do easily. One has to pass a series of qualification tests. Even ordinary crew members who are known for their labor force are not allowed to be illiterate.

Chen Cheng continued, "Currently, India has the fastest global growth rate for seafarers. If this trend continues, it won't be long before India becomes the country with the largest number of seafarers in the world. The main reason for this is their unique system for training seafarers."

"What do you mean?" Khedira asked puzzledly.

Chen Cheng fished out a small notebook from his pocket. "All seafarers must have this seafarer certificate before they can work as seafarers. First, we have to take the four minor certificates and then the major certificate. We also have to study language. Whether we are ordinary seafarers or cadre seafarers, we all have to go through a long period of training before we can take up our posts. Even if it's a mess, it takes at least half a year at the fastest. Do you know how long it takes in India?"

"How long?" Khedira asked.

Chen Cheng gave the answer: "Fourteen days! If you pay more, you can qualify as a cadre crew member. If you pay less, you can become an ordinary crew member."

Now everyone present was confused: "How... is this possible?"

"Why not?" Chen Cheng said, "India has one undeniable advantage. Although the English accents there are strange, the English language is more widely used. This gives them a language advantage when working on ocean-going ships. That's why they can graduate and get their certificate in just fourteen days."

Walter asked, "Is there no problem for the crew members who come out like this to work?"

"No problem?" Chen Cheng sneered, "Ask the Mauritians what they think of the Indian sailors, and see if they can drown you with their saliva!"

"What does this mean?" Walter asked puzzled.

Chen Cheng laughed and said, "What the Indian crew did is beyond your comprehension. Most of the most bizarre shipwrecks in the past two years were caused by Indians. Take, for example, the Wakashio incident that rocked the world. It's so hilarious it makes people laugh and cry."

Khedira hurriedly asked: "What did they do?"

Chen Cheng coughed twice and said, "You know that large cargo ships must follow established routes, right?"

Khedira nodded to show that he understood.

Chen Cheng said: "Everyone follows this rule, but Indians can play by their own rules."

He coughed twice to moisten his throat, and then told everyone the strange story of the Indian crew.

Just as he said, when ships operate on the sea, in order to consider navigation safety, those large oil tankers and cargo ships will basically take mature routes. If they are close to islands or continents, the offshore sailing distance must be maintained at least 22 nautical miles, or 40 kilometers. This is a basic navigation rule.

However, in 2020, the massive cargo ship Wakashio ran aground southeast of Mauritius. Cracks in the hull caused the leakage of over 1,600 tons of fuel, severely polluting the local marine environment. The resulting pollution would not be eliminated for decades.

Mauritius relies on the development of tourism, and such a disaster would be a devastating blow to the country!

An investigation revealed the reason for the disaster: the Wakashio should have sailed 22 nautical miles from the coastline, but the tentacles were only 0.9 nautical miles away from the coast of Mauritius, which was basically within reach by swimming... What's even more interesting is that the Mauritius Coast Guard discovered the dangerous behavior of the Wakashio approaching the coast of Mauritius at the first opportunity and had been issuing warnings to the Wakashio, but the Wakashio did not respond at all and continued to rush towards the coast, as if it was deliberately stranded.

After all, the Wakashio was a massive 300-meter-long cargo ship. Even a landlubber knew that such a vessel couldn't sail too close to shore. So how could such a mistake have occurred?

Mauritius investigated the incident. The Indian captain of the Wakashio said they had encountered pirates and were in a dangerous situation. They were forced to sail to the Mauritian coast to avoid the pirates. However, their radio was malfunctioning, preventing them from responding to warnings from the Mauritian Coast Guard.

What is the truth of the matter?

Well...it belongs to the category of 'even TV dramas don't dare to shoot it that way'.

It turned out that one of the Indian crew members on board was having a birthday, and life at sea was too boring, so the Indian captain decided to hold a birthday party. It would have been nothing special, but after drinking too much, the crew members began to miss home and wanted to chat with their families.

Actually, chatting with my family wasn't difficult. Even though their ship didn't have a satellite network like the Luna or Calypso, they had a maritime satellite phone on board, so I could just call them. It was a bit pricey, though, at about $5 a minute.

After all, not all crew members have a boss as generous as Xiao Peng. Five US dollars a minute of phone calls is too expensive for the crew on the "Wakashio". Their Indian captain came up with a genius idea: they are about to pass through the waters of Mauritius. At this time, as long as they are close enough to the shore, they can use the Mauritius telephone network and use their mobile phones directly.

So, under the leadership of the Indian captain, they embarked on a road of seeking death.

They first sailed their boat five nautical miles offshore. If it were on the Chinese coast, there would be cell phone reception, but the performance of mobile base stations in Mauritius was poor. Their phones still had no signal, so they continued to approach the coast. The Mauritian Coast Guard continued to issue warnings, but they pretended not to hear.

Four nautical miles, three nautical miles, two nautical miles, and then it hit a reef! And just like that, the worst marine ecological disaster in Mauritius's history occurred.

Xiao Peng smiled and said, "You can still see the records of the 'Rukao' if you log in to the AIS system now, but the information is actually from July 25, 2020. This is because the ship has been completely broken into two parts. The back half was towed to India for recycling, and the front half has become a permanent souvenir on the coast of Mauritius!"

"This..." Walter and Khedira looked at each other in bewilderment. Is there really a captain who can do such a thing?

Finally, Chen Cheng said, "They have done more than just this one weird thing!"

"besides?"