Bureaucrats blamed for freeze trap

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 10

Bureaucrats blamed for freeze trap

NZPA Moscow Burecucrats who ignored signs of an early freeze that trapped dozens of Soviet merchant, ships in Arctic pack ice will pay the moral and material cost of their mistake, the Kremlin has announced. The Communist Party newspaper “Pravda” said that eight ships — two of them icebreakers — remain trapped along the shores of northern Siberia and more than 30 others are damaged and undergoing repair. Press reports said that

between 50 and 80 ships were ensnared at various times in huge ice floes since the coldest (northern) winter in 100 years descended on the Arctic region. “The weakest link of the Far Eastern shipping system is the Arctic fleet” “Pravda” said in the most detailed account yet of the incident. It then laid the blame on the Arctic and Antarctic Institute in Leningrad, the State supply agency Gossnap, the Ziwjary, (the non-ferrous metallurgy Min-

istry), and the Far Eastern Shipping Company. “Pravda” said that an experienced hydrologist, V. Kupetski, had predicted the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas would ice over early this year and warned that ships should clear the region by October 5. In a chronology of events the newspaper said that Arctic shipping officials at first decided to clear all ships from the area by October 1. But Arctic Shipping headquarters counting on forecasts of favourable winds that would keep ship-

ping lanes clear for three days, dispatched a large convoy eastward from the port of Pevek. The wind shifted a day later and there was not clear water as expected but instead three ice dams 30 to 50km across.

The convoy, part of which remains trapped, Included the freighter Nina Sagaidak, which later sank, “Pravda” reports. Earlier press reports said that the ship’s crew was rescued by helicopter. “Now the ships of the Far Eastern Shipping Company

are leaving the ice trap one after another, headed for home ports,” “Pravda" said. “But there arises the question: Is only the Arctic to blame?” “Pravda” suggested that the scientists, of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, which issued the bad forecast, learn from the lessons of the Arctic 1983. It said that the failure by officials at Gossnap to use modern container cargo systems had delayed the Arctic fleet for days in port, costing crucial sailing time.

“The time has come for Gossnap, the Energy Ministry and the Ministry of NonFerrous Metallurgy to think about the merits of changing the routes used in delivering cargo to the Chukchi ports (and) to start the construction of a winter road on land . ..” "Pravda” said. The newspaper concluded that the Ministries and departments that oversee shipping and other aspects of life in the far east are too independent and may have to be placed under a central command centre.