Cadet tells of relief to be on land after ship ordeal
ONE of four British officer cadets who ended up stranded at sea for weeks has described the group’s relief at finally being able to set foot on dry land.
The cadets from Clyde Marine Training had been on a placement with South Korean company Hanjin Shipping as part of their City of Glasgow College course when the firm hit financial trouble.
They were among thousands of seafarers affected as ports around the world refused to allow Hanjin ships to dock after the company filed for bankruptcy.
But their ship, the Liberia-flagged Hanjin Louisiana, was recently finally able to dock in Singapore, allowing the 23 crew to disembark and the four-strong group to start mak- ing their way home. One of the team, 22-year-old Ruaridh Hanna, from Beauly in the Highlands, said: “It’s certainly a good feeling to set foot on land after a while, and get into the airport and get the flight tickets in your hands.
“A few times before we left there was a possibility of us getting off but it didn’t really come to fruition, so now we’ve got the flight tickets we’re all pretty happy.” He told the BBC about the ordeal they faced while stranded, with communication problems and food supplies running low.
“It was a bit of a shambles,” he said. “There was a lack of communication between everyone involved, even internally between the various companies. No-one seemed to know what was going on.
“We were getting news from our families, from news websites.”
Mr Hanna, who had been serving on the container vessel for three months, went on: “We were drifting off Colombo (Sri Lanka) for 10 days and we started running out of food.
“We had nine days’ worth of food left when we were told to take a sixday voyage to Singapore. That left us with a three-day margin of error.
“We started running out of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and eggs and flour. Luckily there weren’t any problems on the way, but if there had been a main engine failure in the middle of the Indian Ocean, I don’t know what we would have done.”
It is understood Singapore’s High Court granted a temporary reprieve for the ships to dock without fear of being seized.
Mr Hanna said he is planning a relaxing weekend when he gets home.