Australia Numbers Confirm LR Quality

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) figures released this month show that 125 ships from a total number of 2,926 inspected during the period January to December 2000 were detained. Of these, LR showed a lower detention rate (2.6%*) than other major societies. "AMSA is widely recognized as having a rigorous port state control system in place," said LR's marine director Alan Gavin. "LR has worked hard during 2000 to help reduce the level of substandard shipping, and these latest figures indicate some progress has been made, although there is still a way to go." LR's stance on substandard shipping was publicly reinforced on many occasions last year, making it clear to owners that where they cannot or will not maintain their ships to an acceptable standard, there is no place for such ships in LR's class fleet. LR continues to target ships suspected of falling below acceptable standards, for unscheduled inspections. To improve transparency further, LR now identifies those ships that it punitively disclasses on its Web site (www.lr.org), so that any interested party may see the reason why LR no longer classes the ship and who has taken it on.