Australian authorities have backed Farstad Shipping in the firing of a veteran master of an anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel, who turned up for work with impermissible blood alcohol levels after drinking 10 beers the day before he was to join a ship.
But Captain Jurgen Rust, 62, says his dismissal stems from a long struggle with the offshore vessel owner, which has merged into SolstadFarstad, ultimately caused by chronically ungovernable "integrated ratings" (IRs) in the Australian offshore fleet.
He tells TradeWinds that a near mutiny prevented him from implementing operational measures to improve crew and ship safety.
"What happened to me in 2014 is almost reminiscent of what happened to Captain William Bligh in 1789," Rust told TradeWinds, referring to the mutinied captain of the HMS Bounty.
He does not deny the alcohol policy violation but maintains that the sacking was unfair and says he still hopes for a favourable resolution after next month's final hearing.
In July, Rust had persuaded commissioner Michelle Bissett of Australia's Fair Work Commission to find that Farstad had been "harsh" and "unfair" in his dismissal in November 2016.
However, last week, Farstad won an appeal in which the full bench of the commission quashed the ruling and ordered a rehearing.
"I have to take some blame," Rust said. "I have to face consequences. I am not in the game of trying to get exonerated. I'm trying to get a fair outcome."
Hamburg native Rust, 62, served as master of the 14,700-bhp Far Scimitar (built 2008) and other vessels for Farstad Shipping (Indian Pacific) over 15 years. He previously was a master for AP Moller-Maersk and Tidewater before moving to Australia. The company is now a subsidiary of Norwegian offshore vessel owner SolstadFarstad after its merger with Solstad Offshore.
Farstad, which bought former partner P&O out of Australian Offshore Services in 2003, is the largest shipowner in the Australian offshore sector. Before a round of redundancies last year, it employed about 70 of 300 master mariners in the tight-knit sector.
Last October, Rust, with 33 years in Australian shipping and a Facebook profile featuring the nickname "Captain Corrosion", was home in Brisbane on his regular rotation when Farstad called on him to fly west to "mentor" the new master of the 24,000-bhp AHTS vessel Far Sirius (built 2014).
But, before joining the vessel, he blew 0.047 in a random alcohol test, more than twice what Farstad's policies allow. Soon thereafter, he was dismissed for "serious misconduct".
He and his lawyers have argued that Farstad bears part of the blame because of its failure to resolve a near mutiny in 2014, in which Rust had been suspended over anonymous accusations, leading to depression from which he still suffers.
At that time, Rust had found the Far Scimitar's ratings unwilling to go along with a new work plan for anchor handling operations that he tried to introduce for the sake of health and operational safety.
Rust was anonymously accused of saying in heated discussions that “he would rather see an IR injured or killed than bump the rig”.
“You were a c**t when you first came here and you still are,” one rating named Tim Ribergaard is alleged to have said, and the crew resistance eventually forced Rust to back down from implementing the new arrangements, the captain claims.
Ribergaard is later alleged to have been physically restrained by other crew members when he "lunged" to attack Rust.
The captain was temporarily suspended from his duties until a human resources consulting firm determined that he had not been shown to have “acted in breach of his safety obligations [or] behaved in a manner unbecoming of a master”.
But his grievances in the matter remained unresolved by Farstad.
Meanwhile, Rust had sought psychiatric treatment and was prescribed antidepressants without disclosing the medication to Farstad.
On the way to join the Far Sirius last October, Rust met one of his former crewmen on a flight from Brisbane to Perth. He felt his heart "palpitating" as he recalled the conflict.
"On arrival in Perth, he spoke to [rating Dale] Richardson and suggested they go to the Qantas Club and talk about the events on the Far Scimitar," wrote commissioner Bissett.
"During that conversation, Richardson indicated that that there were no issues between the two of them and that captain Rust had been 'unfairly treated by the crew and company'."
At the Perth Qantas Club and later in his hotel in Karratha in Western Australia, he drank 10 beers, retiring early "because he was conscious of the possibility of being tested for alcohol the next morning". But it was not early enough.
Farstad rejected arguments by the Australian Maritime Officers’ Union (AMOU) that there were mitigating factors.
Bissett's original ruling found the dismissal harsh and unjust, in part because Farstad had never resolved the 2014 incident. In rejecting that ruling and ordering a rehearing, the full commission pointed to Rust's failure to disclose his antidepressant prescription among other factors supporting the termination.
A new ruling is set for 22 November.
