10 FOREIGN SHIPS UNDER DETENTION IN THE UK DURING FEBRUARy 2004

1 Apr 2004 06:15 PM

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that 10 foreign ships were under detention in UK ports during February2004 after failing Port State Control safety inspection.

Latest monthly figures show that 4 foreign ships were detained in UK ports during February 2004 along with 6 other ships still under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last 12 months is 6.0% which is a decrease of 0.4% on the detention rate to January. Three of the four vessels detained during the month were targeted by the Paris MOU for priority inspection.

The ships detained in February included the following:-

* a Hong Kong flag, 18117 GT, 1981, bulk carrier for 3 days in Portbury with 21 deficiencies including rotten unusable lifejackets, lifeboat davit attachments wasted, unsatisfactory fire drill and failure of onboard Safety Management System

* a Maltese, 996 GT, 1980 built, general cargo ship in Ipswich with 25 deficiencies including no sanitary water, no hot water, lack of provisions for crew, fire pump inoperative, engineroom fire alarm inoperative, poor fire drill, nautical publications and charts out of date, dirty engineroom and windlass drum end broken in two

* a Maltese, 823 GT, 1982, ro/ro cargo ship in Harwich with 16 deficiencies including insufficient charts, 40 degree gyro compass error and damage to hull

Note to Editors

1. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's Inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant shipping and in compliance with the EU Directive on Port State Control (95/21/EC as amended), the Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) publishes full details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month.

2. Inspections of foreign flagged ships in UK ports are undertaken by surveyors from the MCA. Where a ship is found to be deficient or lacks the required documentation, MCA surveyors can take a range of actions leading to detention in serious cases. The UK is part of a regional agreement on port state control known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) and information on all ships that are inspected is held centrally in an electronic database known as SIReNaC. This allows the ships of flags with poor detention records to be targeted for future inspection.

3. Detained ships have to satisfy surveyors that remedial work has been carried out before they are allowed to leave port.

4. When applicable the list includes those passenger craft prevented form operating under the provisions of the EU Directive on Mandatory Surveys for the safe operation of regular Ro-Ro ferry and highspeed passenger craft services (1999/35/EU).

5. The Paris MOU Advisory Board decided on 28th January 2002 to take account of the recommendations of the IMO sub-committee on STCW. If a seafarer's documentation does not comply with STCW 95 then a letter of warning will be issued and details will be published on the Paris MOU Internet site. Letters of Warning will be issued until 31 July 2002. From the beginning of August a ship to which a letter of warning has been issued will be subject to priority inspection and may be detained if the documentation of the crew does not comply with STCW95.

Notes on the list of detentions

Full details of the ship

The table shows ship's name, the flag state and the ship's International Maritime Organization (IMO) number which is unchanging throughout the ship's life and uniquely identifies it.

Company

The company shown in the vessel's Safety Management Certificate or the party otherwise believed to be responsible for the safety of the ship at the time of inspection.

Classification Society

The table shows the Classification Society responsible for classing the ship and not necessarily the party issuing and/or carrying out surveys for certificates relevant to the defect found.

Defects

The table gives a summary of the main grounds for detention and includes information where the ship has been released to sail to another port for repairs.

FOREIGN MERCHANT SHIPS UNDER DETENTION IN UK PORTS
DURING FEBRUARY 2004

SHIPS DETAINED IN FEBRUARY 2004

Date & place of detention: 09/02/2004 - Portbury
Vessel Name: ANGEL LIGHT (Bulk Carrier, 18117 tonnes)
IMO No: 8109890
Flag: Hong Kong

Company: Fleet Management Ltd, Hong Kong
Classification Society: Class NK

Summary: Detained for 3 days, 21 recorded deficiencies. 27 life jackets unusable - fabric rotten and easy to tear, portside lifeboat davit attachment to deck wasted, crew training in emergency preparedness poor, fire drill unsatisfactory - fireman entered affected area without firefighting equipment and one casualty not found, VHF set inadequate - transmission of poor quality and handset cradle broken. Number and nature of deficiencies suggest breakdown of onboard Safety Management System.

Date & place of detention: 11/02/2004 - Ipswich
Vessel Name: LOUISE TRADER (General Cargo, 996 tonnes)
IMO No: 8007078
Flag: Malta - Flag withdrawn

Company: Trader Club BV, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Classification Society: Germanischer Lloyd

Summary: Still under detention at the end of February. 25 recorded deficiencies. No sanitary water no hot water, galley oven door unsafe, windlass drum in two pieces, fire pump inoperative, fire alarm in engine room inoperative, unable to complete fire drill, engine room/steering room communications inoperative, engine room unclean, lack of provisions for crew, nautical publications and charts out of date, lack of understanding in use of radio equipment, M/F radio aerial broken at monkey island deck, no safe access to monkey island.

Date & place of detention: 16/02/2004 - Harwich
Vessel Name: JOTUNHEIM (Ro-Ro Cargo, 823 tonnes)
IMO No: 8300157
Flag: Malta
Company: Mamara Denizcilik A.S. Intanbul, Turkey
Classification Society: Det Norske Veritas

Summary: Still under detention at the end of February. 16 recorded deficiencies. Insufficient charts on board, no passage plan for next voyage, tide tables out of date. Gyro compass 40 degree error, holes in shell plating, generator pulleys dangerously unprotected, no radio equipment for intended voyage (A3), stability case for vessel in present condition not worked, stability book not in working language, no access gangway, no Flag State Endorsements for crew, no letter delegating authority from owners to DOC/SMC holder.

Date & place of detention: 16/02/2004 - Portbury
Vessel Name: YVONNE S (Bulk Carrier) 36544gt
IMO No: 8516689
Flag: Panama

Company: Byzantine Maritime Corporation, Athens, Greece
Classification Society: Class NK

Summary: Detained for 3 days. 26 recorded deficiencies. Reserve source of energy for radio communication equipment inadequate - voltage too low, hours of rest records inadequate, cotton securing panels on 19 lifejackets wasted, galley cleanliness poor, fire drill unsatisfactory - fire plan not used, communication poor, firemen poorly briefed on what to do, one entered affected area with no means of fighting fire and continued to try to connect up foam unit unaware of alarm indicating running out of air.

DETENTIONS CARRIED OVER FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS

Date & place of detention: 05/09/2000 - Lowestoft
Vessel Name: OILVER FELIX (Tug) 144gt
IMO No: 5281128
Flag: Honduras

Company: General Maritime Ltd, London
Classification Society: International Naval Surveys Bureau

Summary: Allowed to sail to Southampton for scrapping and re-detained on arrival, (27/02/03). 50 recorded deficiencies. Magnetic Compass deviation card missing, daylight signals missing, excess oil in engine room constituting a fire hazard, ship's certificates expired.

Date & place of detention: 03/08/2001 - Whitehaven
Vessel Name: CARMEL (General Cargo) 199gt
IMO No: 7106891
Flag: Belize

Company: Maritime Offshore Services, Bahamas
Classification Society: None

Summary: Still under detention at the end of February. No valid statutory certificates on board.

Date & place of detention: 08/08/2003 -Estonia
Vessel Name: GLORIA (General Cargo) 657gt
IMO No: 6523107
Flag: Estonia

Company: Timant Ltd, Tallinn Estonia
Classification Society: None

Summary: Still under detention at the end of February. 57 deficiencies recorded prior to inspection being suspended. Vessel unsafe due to condition of ship's hull structure, deck transverse beams holed with corrosion, numerous side frames distorted due to operational damage, vessel fails to meet the stability requirements for a vessel loading bulk grain, evidence of insect infestation in cargo hold.

Date & place of detention: 16/01/2004 - Newport
Vessel Name: CEM RIVER (Bulk Carrier) 2962gt
IMO No: 7204813
Flag: St Vincent & Grenadines

Company: Temaco Shipmanagement, Antwerp, Belgium
Classification Society: Lloyds Register (ISM Auditor DNV)

Summary: Still under detention at the end of February. 14 recorded deficiencies. Planned maintenance not carried out due to lack of spare parts, no company review, verification and evaluation being carried out.

Date & place of detention: 26/01/2004 - Immingham
Vessel Name: LUCKY SUN (Bulk Carrier) 22354gt
IMO No: 7433672
Flag: Malta
Company: Milestone Shipping & Management, Istanbul, Turkey Classification Society: Det Norske Veritas

Summary: Released from detention on 6th February. 20 recorded deficiencies. Watertight integrity of focsle space breached - deckhead penetration failed, forward hatch defective, MF/HF radio installation defective, no exemption or alarms for double sheathed high pressure fuel pipes, number of deficiencies indicates breakdown of safety management system onboard.

Date & place of detention: 29/01/2004 - Swansea
Vessel Name: SPUTTENBERG (General Cargo) 2265gt
IMO No: 8027664
Flag: Cyprus
Company: Vela Reederei Friedrich Damber
Classification Society: Germanischer Lloyd (ISM Auditor BV)

Summary: Released from detention on 5th February. 9 recorded deficiencies. ISM manuals not available in a language understood by some officers. Fire drills inadequate. Personnel entered starboard wing tank without permit to enter, senior officer not aware of safe oxygen content. Fractures in side shell plates. Frames severely wasted, detached from shell and hold plating.