Fire safety on board ships is still serious concern. Recent events have demonstrated that a fire on board a ship can be potentially devastating and can seriously affect the safety of those on board. Preliminary results from the Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Fire Safety Systems, carried out between 1 September 2012 and 30 November 2012 in the Paris MoU region show important trends on the current situation onboard merchant vessels.
When boarding the ship, the PSCO immediately noticed clear grounds for a more detailed inspection of the ship’s safety standard and general condition. The PSCO found that the maintenance of especially the accommodation and the ship’s deck areas were so poor that the ship should be considered substandard.
Photo credit: Shipspotting
A vessel was undergoing a periodical survey by a DNV class surveyor. A total of 19 air vent heads (mostly from ballast tanks) were found to be defective and the surveyor requested the master to repair this before leaving port. This example is taken from a DNV case but defective vent heads (sometimes also called air pipe closing devices) are frequently found in ship surveys, so this example is by no means unique.
On 25 July 2007 the MV Captain Blue loaded with cement bags, sent a distress alert to JRCC (Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre) Piraeus reporting a starboard list of four degrees west of Kefalonia Island at the Ionian Sea. Following the appropriate actions from the Hellenic SAR Authorities, the ship was towed safely in the port of Kefalonia Island. The master reported to the local Coast Guard Authority that he was not in position of proceeding to ballast operations since he suspected that there could be a hole in the hold, resulting to damage on cargo. As a consequence the ship was inspected by a team of PSCOs from the PSC Office of Patra and the inspection revealed 20 deficiencies, with most of them of a serious nature resulting in a detention.
This year’s NKK annual Port State Control (PSC) report summarizes deficiencies identified by PSC inspections carried out in various countries around the world. Last year due to several new conventions or amendments such as the ISPS Code, the Bulk Carrier Safety initiative, and air pollution prevention, etc. have come into force, the extent of PSC inspections has been further increased.
Russian general cargo ship has been detained since 15 August by Kazakhstan authorities for border pass rules violation, but without any evidence. The ship was loaded with equipment for oil refinery destined for Rostov-on-Don, Kazakhstan.
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Officer of the Watch 