The stability of El Faro before leaving Jaxport was the main focus during day 1 of the second round of hearings into the sinking of the ship with 33 crew members on board.
Before the hearing got started, everyone first bowed their heads for a moment of silence in honor of the 33 lives lost.
Many family members were in the audience, some traveled from far away, putting they've put their lives on hold to attend every hearing.
Final shore-side interactions became the early focus as the hearing got underway Monday.
Docking and tugging pilots James Frudaker and Eric Bryson, respectively, took the stand.
Both reported there were no significant issues with the ship before it set sail.
“How about the ship’s electronic equipment, do you recall if everything was operable?” asked Keith Fawcett, Marine Board member.
“There was no deficiencies that I can remember,” said Frudaker.
Next up was former TOTE employee and El Faro Capt. Eric Axelsson.
You frequently heard the term GM margin which measures the ship’s stability. The lesser the margin the less safe the ship could potentially be.
For crew members, it’s a delicate balance between calculating the cargo weight and fuel while also making sure the ship’s safety isn’t compromised.
Axelsson said he may have been asked from time to time to sail below the guideline.
“I wouldn’t, because I knew what I needed for my fuel to burn off and then I wanted a little extra for me,” said Axelsson.
Axelsson said he was never pressured into sailing below the required margin. He said he thinks he knows why he was asked.
“He might have wanted to put a couple extra boxes on but it never became an issue,” said Axelsson.
Axelsson said the questions about whether he would sail below the stability margin wouldn’t happen often.
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