The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has banned the Philippines-flagged cargo ship “Thorco Luna”, as the ship was detained for a third time this year, because of consistently failing to meet international standards. The ship will not be permitted to enter any Australian port for a period of three months.
AMSA inspected the ship five times between November 2017 and June 2018. On three of these inspections the ship was detained and issued with 34 deficiencies. The ship’s average deficiency rate is 6.8 deficiencies per inspection, which is almsot triple the industry average of 2.3.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
The most serious deficiencies came from the fact that officers and crew were not familiar with the operation of critical shipboard equipment and procedures for navigation and fire safety. This opposes to the obligations under chapter XI-1 of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention.
In one case, the ship’s navigating officers had planned to transit a compulsory pilotage area without a pilot and were unfamiliar with the operation of the electronic navigation systems upon which they relied. AMSA is also concerned about safe systems of work and the operation of critical shipboard equipment for fire-fighting, navigation and alarms.
AMSA’s Acting General Manager of Operations, Stephen Curry, noted that Thorco Luna’s operator had failed to ensure the crew ran the ship safely and according to international standards.
This presents an unacceptable risk to the safety of the ship, its crew and the marine environment.
AMSA has banned six ships in the past two years.
