Binjiang Police Affa Chapter 759 - 515: Safety Education

Chapter 759: Chapter 515: Safety Education

The transportation business on the river is booming!

Just need to haul stones from Hui’an, and there’s always a unit needing them. As soon as it’s unloaded, we settle the accounts, no delays in a single day.

Having just experienced a typhoon disaster, from Linghai’s Zhuangming, Jiadian to Guzhou’s Dacang, Shuzhou, Zhangjia Port, then to Jiangyin, Zhenjiang, almost all were busy restoring the river embanknts.

There’s a demand for stones everywhere, the money was so easy to co by that it couldn’t be earned fast enough.

As a veteran employee of Linghai Shipping Company, Han Zhengxian felt it was important not to forget his old company and neighbors, so he hurriedly made a call to the company.

The newly appointed manager of the shipping company realized the business opportunity and imdiately organized a fleet to participate in the ergency transport, even arranging a dedicated person to rush to Hui’an and "contract" three quarries and two docks.

Thanks to providing tily information to the company, Han Zhengxian enjoyed the treatnts of priority berthing and loading, changing from a round trip every three or four days to every two days.

This truly was making a fortune every day. He and his eldest son and his son’s uncle took turns steering the ship, people rested but the ship kept moving, busy and happy.

Boss Wu has been building ships for so many years, the efficiency of constructing inland river vessels is now very high, a 1000-ton vessel only takes three and a half months to be launched.

Director Ge has stepped back to a secondary position and theoretically could have stopped working.

It doesn’t matter whether he listened to the city leaders or not, but he had to listen to Sister Wei. He had almost beco the ship owner of the new ship being built by the Old Han Family, taking full responsibility for handling related procedures.

Zhang Jiangkun was also busy, realizing that aquaculture and agriculture could not solve the imminent economic pressure, he thought it was better to stick to his main job.

Considering economic benefits, the Port Authority and East Sea Yangtze River Passenger Company introduced a series of incentive asures for custor and freight transportation at small passenger terminals like Bailong Port and Dongqi Port, which were barely surviving.

Simply put, if the performance is good, everyone gets bonuses and commissions.

Zhang Jiangkun discussed with three dockworkers and decided to work on both fronts.

Ticket seller Chen Jie, who is also the wife of Deputy Instructor Zhang Ping from the Bailong Port Police Station, took turns with another dockworker going into the city center and nearby towns to post advertisents every afternoon.

They introduced telephone ticket booking and a ticket ho delivery service!

At the sa ti, they contacted the Linghai Long-distance Bus Station to ask them to sell tickets for Bai Shen, Bai Liu, and the high-speed passenger ferries, and even asked minibus owners to sell tickets on their behalf.

The day before yesterday morning, they specially went to the Linghai TV Station and spent a thousand yuan to ask the station to advertise for them. As long as the money is paid, they could even request a song, advertising on TV is easy.

Zhang Jiangkun mainly took charge of freight transport, riding Han Yu’s light motorcycle every day to visit companies around Four Factory and several freight stations in the city area...

It proved that actively advertising and seeking out business makes a world of difference.

In the past few days, the high-speed ferries’ occupancy rates have significantly improved. Since Bailong Port is the starting station, there were many passengers coming there to catch the ferry yesterday, resulting in many Dongqi passengers unable to buy tickets or board the ferry at Dongqi Port!

Freight business has also noticeably improved, although loading and unloading are a bit tiring.

Considering they could earn more bonuses and commission, a little extra work didn’t matter. It’s better than not earning money at all.

Han Yu was also busy, going around teaching like attending fairs all day.

Considering the large number of fishing boat captains and sailors needed for training, the Binjiang Agricultural Bureau Fishery Station and the East Sea District Fishery Bureau Binjiang Fishery Station found it inconvenient to go from Dongqi, Linghai, Dongru, and Si Gang to the city center for training. They simply started from Dongqi, organizing training classes district by district.

In terms of on-water traffic safety managent for fishing vessels, the Fishery Administration is not as professional as the Port Supervision and Marine Supervision from the transportation system, but as they belong to two different systems, the Agricultural system can’t simply ask the Transportation system’s people to co and lecture.

Han Yu is from the police, belonging to a "third party". Asking Han Yu to lecture is appropriate, and he also feels it’s necessary to have a good talk about safety with the fishern of Binjiang.

Because the safety awareness of fishern is not as high as that of inland river crews and sea-going sailors, certification through training and exams is not as strict as with the Port Supervision and Marine Supervision. Over the years, too many accidents have occurred due to a lack of safety consciousness.

Dongqi has a large population of fishern, and today’s training was scheduled at the Dongqi City Workers’ Cinema.

Wearing a police uniform and seated on the podium, the room was silent. The normally brash and casual ship captains didn’t dare to whisper to each other, and having just been lectured on fire safety, didn’t dare to smoke in the cinema.

"Comrades, we’ve just discussed fire safety; next, we will talk about navigation safety and mariti fishing operation safety."

Han Yu switched to a new slide, turned back to look at the big screen, and said, "This is a cargo ship registered in Panama. The shipowner is a shipping company from South Korea. On October 21st of the year before last, just as the ship was about to enter Korean waters, it suddenly discovered several Chinese fishern on its bow deck, startling the Second Officer on duty, who thought pirates had boarded the ship."

How could fishern suddenly appear on a cargo ship? Was it a case of stowaways?

Deputy Station Chief Yang from the Binjiang Fishery Station and Vice Director Li of the Dongqi City Agricultural Bureau, in charge of Fishery Administration, were puzzled when Han Yu explained: "The Second Officer, along with a few sailors, carrying wrenches and other ’weapons,’ went up to inquire and then learned that the fishern had climbed up through a hole for the anchor chain after their fishing boat was hit. The cargo ship berthed in Busan, South Korea, where the surviving Chinese fishern were handed over to the Korea Immigration Bureau.

I do not know the final outco of the investigation into this mariti accident, but the incident highlights several issues.

You may not know that I’ve worked on coastal ferries and coastal cargo ships, as well as spending nearly two years on a deep-sea cargo ship. Especially when sailing on coastal routes, I encountered many fishing boats and have so understanding of dostic fishing vessels."

"So of our fishern believe in the superstition ’Crossing ahead of big ships guarantees a year without worry.’ As soon as they see a large vessel approaching, they like to, or even deliberately, cross closely in front of its bow. But more often, fishern are concerned about their fishing nets being pulled away or damaged by passing cargo ships. To protect their nets, upon seeing a big ship approaching, they repeatedly cross back and forth in front of it, trying to force the large vessel to change course and keep away."

Vice Director Li, although responsible for fishery administration and fishing affairs, had never been to sea and could barely believe such things could happen.

Deputy Station Chief Yang from the Binjiang Fishery Station had been to sea to protect fisheries and knew that the warnings about salted fish were not exaggerated. He nodded repeatedly.

"Comrades, in such situations, our Chinese cargo ships, out of sympathy, would often yield. However, foreign ships do not abide by this, and they may not be willing to give way. So foreign captains are unaware of the importance of fishing nets and do not understand the intention of fishing boats crossing repeatedly directly in front.

"You are risking your lives by crossing back and forth in front of cargo ships. They don’t know what you are trying to do, cannot communicate effectively through the radio due to a language barrier, and even if they manage to take evasive action in ti, they do not know the exact location of your nets. If not careful, a collision can easily happen."

Looking at the contemplative faces of the fishern below, Han Yu said gravely: "Such incidents have happened more than once. I have witnessed such situations firsthand while serving on deep-sea cargo ships. At that ti, it happened in the East Sea Area when two fishing vessels attempted to force the cargo ship I was serving on to steer clear of their fishing nets.

I was an Apprentice Chief Officer at the ti, and a British Second Officer was on duty at the helm. Upon spotting the fishing boats blocking ahead, he imdiately took evasive action. However, the two Zhehai-registered fishing boats persisted in their maneuvers, risking their nets in pursuit. The Second Officer truly had no clue what these two fishing boats were trying to do. Realizing sothing was amiss, I quickly instructed the helmsman to go full to port, narrowly avoiding a collision at the last mont."

Crossing closely in front of a cargo ship’s bow was almost a rite of passage for the ship captains present.

The venue beca even quieter, each captain listening with mixed emotions.

"I understand that losing a fishing net is a major loss and that everyone relies on fishing for a livelihood, but it’s too dangerous for small boats to force big ships to change course—one mistake, and it could result in the loss of both ship and lives!"

"Director Han, I know you’re saying this for our sake, but if we don’t intercept, and our fishing nets get destroyed, who will compensate for the loss?" a ship captain couldn’t help standing up to ask.

"This is indeed a very real problem, but you all are pillars of your families. If sothing were to happen to you at sea, what would happen to your families? I believe that life is more valuable than nets; as long as the green hills are there, one needn’t worry about firewood."

Han Yu paused, then continued: "To prevent such situations from happening again, I believe the Fishery Administration and Marine Supervision departnts must take action, such as organizing English training for everyone. English isn’t as difficult as you think; as long as you can master so everyday phrases, you can carry out simple communication.

Every one of your ships is equipped with a radio. When you see a large ship approaching, call the other side and tell them where the fishing nets are. I believe they will take evasive action in ti. After all, if a fishing net becos entangled in a large ship’s propeller, it can cause damage and even put the ship at risk of losing control.

Another example is for the Fishery Administration departnt to communicate promptly with Marine Supervision, report the range of fishing operations in advance, and remind passing cargo ships to take evasive action. Overall, there are definitely more solutions than difficulties, and there is no need to risk destroying your ship and losing lives by forcing a large vessel to change direction..."

Han Yu talked for a full two hours, and the content of his speech was completely different from that of the previous organized trainings.

After the presentation, Vice Director Li of the Dongqi Agricultural Bureau ca up to et Han Yu and asked, "Director Han, do those ship captains really dare to force cargo ships to change direction at sea?"

"This is the contradiction between fishing rights and navigation rights."

Han Yu looked back and said with a wry smile: "I have been to dozens of countries, and the fishing boats of those dozens of countries added up do not match the number in China. It leaves many foreign captains puzzled when they co to China’s coastal areas and face the vast fleet of fishing boats.

Especially during the fishing season, upon entering the fishing zones, a radar sweep reveals a dense array of fishing boats and nets, making the navigation of cargo ships as cautious as treading through a minefield. If they are close to the coast, if they enter our territorial waters, foreign ships will definitely try to avoid as much as possible.

However, in open waters, foreign ships are not so concerned. At first sight, they will take evasive action, but if you relentlessly chase them trying to force a change of direction, facing a temperantal or negligent captain, a collision will just happen."

Deputy Station Chief Yang from the Binjiang Fishery Station nodded in agreent and turned to say, "Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen mariti safety education and not to sacrifice lives for the sake of economic benefits."