The 28 year old general cargo ship ‘ACORUS‘ was detained in Piraeus, Greece, on 10 November, during a re-inspection for lifting the refusal of access order, which was imposed in July 2017. This was its second detention in Greece within 36 months, according to Paris MOU.
The ship flies the flag of Moldova, which is black on the current Paris MoU WGB list.
Under the provisions of section 4 of the Paris MoU, Article 16 of EU Council Directive 2009/16/EC, the ship will be refused further access to any port and anchorage in the Paris MOU region, except a port and anchorage of the ship’s flag State. This refusal of access will become applicable immediately after the ship is authorized to leave this port and anchorage.
As this is the second refusal of access order, the period of the refusal of access will be 12 months. When it was first refused access in the Greek port of Aspropyrgos in July, the refusal period was 3 months.
“Your attention is drawn to the provisions of Section 4.4 of the Paris MOU, Article 21.6 of EU Council Directive 2009/16/EC1, which allow access to a specific port and anchorage in the event of force majeure or overriding safety considerations, or to reduce or minimize the risk of pollution or to have deficiencies rectified, provided that adequate measures to the satisfaction of the competent authority of such State have been implemented by the company or the master of the ship to ensure safe entry,” Paris MoU noted.
