U.K. Detained 14 Ships During July

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that 14 foreign ships were under detention in UK ports during July 2002 after failing port state control safety inspection. Latest monthly figures show that 9 foreign ships were detained in UK ports during July 2002 along with 5 other ships still under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last 12 months is 6.1% which is a decrease of 0.2% on the 12 month rate to June. July was the first month of the Paris MOU concentrated inspection campaign on ISM, and of the 9 vessels detained 7 were found to have ISM related deficiencies. Two of these vessels were detained for failing to have ISM in place by the due date. While the remainder had the appropriate certification in place, the nature of the deficiencies showed that the system was ineffective or had broken down. One vessel, a Brazilian flagged bulk carrier, whose safety management system had been in place since ISM was introduced for this type of vessel in 1998, had 42 deficiencies. Fire safety was compromised in a number of ways including holed firemain, hoses not ready for use and inoperable emergency closing valves for the fuel tank. A Norwegian flagged general cargo vessel, which had been covered by ISM since July 2002 was found to have numerous ISM related deficiencies and was inadequately prepared to meet these requirements. 10 people were onboard the vessel but there was only sufficient safety equipment for 8. In addition to this 3 children were on board with no appropriate lifejackets. There was no evidence that emergency steering gear drills had been completed in accordance with the program, and the Chief Engineer was unable to demonstrate the operation of this equipment.