Unseaworthy Bulker Banned from Australian Ports

Australia has banned a Cypriot-flagged bulk carrier from entering its ports after inspectors found the vessel to be unseaworthy.

The vessel, Peace, is operated by Danaos Shipping, a company which also operates the containership Suez Canal, which was the subject of a prolonged detention by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in January 2024.

AMSA Acting Executive Director Operations Greg Witherall said Danaos Shipping’s failures with the Suez Canal gave the authority serious cause for concern about other ships operated by the company – leading the authority to increase the frequency of inspections.

“In January 2024 we issued Danaos Shipping with a formal letter of warning, urging the company to rectify the systemic issues which led to the Suez Canal being detained in Australia that same month,” Witherall said.

“Clearly that letter of warning fell on deaf ears. Fast forward 5 months and we have had yet another one of Danaos Shipping’s vessels, the Peace, detained in an Australian port for a lack of maintenance and serious deterioration of fixtures and fittings such as hatches.

“The state of Peace was so poor that it represented a very real and unacceptable risk to the safety of seafarers onboard and Australia’s marine environment. Ships cannot be operated in this unseaworthy state.”

Witherall said the watertight and weathertight failures on the Peace had catastrophic potential. Peace was detained in Newcastle on May 31, 2024, a detention which was only lifted yesterday following rectification of these deficiencies.

“Allowing a ship to fall into a state of deterioration is completely unacceptable – there are no excuses for this level of neglect."

“That is why we have taken the next step of banning this ship from entering an Australian port again for 3 months.

“Further action may be taken against the company itself should Danaos Shipping continue down this trajectory of operating unseaworthy ships,” Witherall said.