JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — El Faro was equipped with two boilers on each side of the cargo ship. They were set to undergo maintenance in a shipyard in the Bahamas a month after it sank in a hurricane with 33 people aboard.
Walashek Industrial Marine Superintendent Luke Laakso testified before the Marine Board of Investigation Thursday. He was hired as a subcontractor by TOTE Services Inc. to look into the boiler on the ship’s right side ahead of the planned shipyard period in November.
Laakso said he’d been aboard El Faro before to do repairs on the boilers but had only inspected them a couple of times.
He rode El Faro for the purpose of surveying the boiler between Sept. 11-14. The ship departed Jacksonville on its final voyage on Sept. 29.
“Burner throats were starting to deteriorate, the brick work on the floor was starting to build up and buckle a little bit, there were some issues with the fire stops,” Laakso said as he listed the issues he found.
Former El Faro chief engineer James Robinson testified Tuesday that the left side boiler was in worse shape than the one surveyed by Laakso.
When pressed by the Marine Board of Investigation if he would’ve recommended the issues be addressed right away instead of waiting until November, Laakso said yes, even though he didn’t recommend a time frame for repairs at the time of the survey.
“I would recommend it’d be fixed right away but that’s only a recommendation of us being contractors. It’s really up to the ship’s owner at that point,” said Laakso.
Laakso also said nothing he saw inside the boiler would’ve been a threat to the safety of those aboard.
“Well if something like that was to occur, I would probably speak with the chief engineer on board,” said Laakso.
Laakso said he isn’t a boiler inspector and doesn’t hold any licenses or certifications but has been conducting boiler repairs since 2002. Laakso said he would not be classified as a qualified boiler inspector by the manufacturer, Babcock & Wilcox.
The hearing reconvenes at 9 a.m. Friday.