JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The El Faro sank just before it was to be added to a Coast Guard list of vessels identified as having the most "potential for risk," a designation that would have triggered more safety inspections.
The El Faro was to be included on the so-called "targeting list," which compiled the top 10 percent of ships the Coast Guard believed needed stricter scrutiny, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Kyle McAvoy testified Monday during an investigative hearing.
But the 40-year-old El Faro sank in 15,000 feet of water after losing propulsion and getting caught in Hurricane Joaquin just days before the Coast Guard planned to send the ship's owner a message about the new designation. All 33 people aboard died.
When news of the ship's disappearance came in, McAvoy said the connection was immediately made.
"The question became, internally, 'What do we do now? We just lost the El Faro,'" McAvoy said. "We held the message."
The exchange came as the second week of testimony began with Coast Guard officials reviewing whether more regulation would have prevented the tragedy that killed all 33 crew members.
Most of the discussion Monday morning was not specific to the El Faro, and that the Coast Guard has noticed more problems with shipping liners and other ships in the past few years.
Capt. John Mauger, who runs the Coast Guard Maritime Safety Center, testified it inspects plans for almost 20,000 ships a year and most pass. He said it only goes back and gives further review to about four percent of the ships.
But in recent years, there was testimony that there's been an alarming rate of design problems starting around 2014.
"These things should've been identified during design construction of the vessel instead of turn operations," Mauger said.
Maritime attorney Rod Sullivan said technology and automation appears to have played a role.
"What they’re saying is in 2014, they had a big uptick in discrepancies with compliance," said maritime attorney Rod Sullivan, who is sitting in on the hearings. "And they’re trying to determine whether there needs to be more Coast Guard oversight or whether the program is working."
The panel spent hours asking about the Coast Guard programs as well as how they applied to the El Faro. The intent right now appears to be how to change oversight as a whole rather than determine the specifics on the ship alone.
The family members of the crew were happy to hear that. On Friday, they announced a petition drive to improve oversight in the maritime industry.
Glen Jackson, who attended Monday's hearing, had traveled to Jacksonville from New Orleans for his brother's sake. He said his brother Jack Jackson chose to work on El Faro because he believed it was comparatively safe to other ships.
In the weeks before the ship sank, after a power failure on the way Puerto Rico, the sailor had second thoughts about the vessel's safety.
"He considered getting off the ship, but being that he was a solid guy, he wanted to live out his contract," Jackson said. "He was going to do the job."
Hearings are expected to resume at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Other mariners who worked on board the El Faro are expected to testify.
DOCUMENT: Full schedule of hearing