The US Coast Guard launched its Domestic Vessel Annual Report, collecting data from the USCG’s Marine Information Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) database regarding vessel population, inspections conducted, and deficiencies issued for the 2018 calendar year.
Ukraine issued an appeal to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), asking Russia’s release of three detained Ukrainian navy vessels and the twenty four crewmembers that were onboard. Ukraine asked the Tribunal to preserve the respective rights of the parties to the dispute or to prevent serious harm to the marine environment.
MPA Singapore informs about an increase in Port State Control detentions experienced by Singapore ships since the beginning of 2019. Namely, it has been noticed that defects regarding the ship’s sewage treatment plant are increasingly becoming a common deficiency that cause ships to be detained by PSC.
The Med MoU involves ten Member States: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. In this rather busy maritime area, there are three important crossings for the world trade: the Suez canal, connecting Indian Ocean/red sea; the Gibraltar straight, connecting Atlantic ocean and the Dardanelles and Bosporus, connecting Black sea.
ISWAN, in partnership with InterManager, ICS, ICMA and ITF, issued a new booklet, entitled ‘Arrested and Detained Vessels, and Abandoned Seafarers’, providing guidance to welfare organisations dealing with incidents of seafarers being abandoned and vessels being arrested or detained.
South Korea detained a domestic vessel for allegedly supplying petroleum products to North Korea, thus violating the sanctions. The tanker was detained at the port of Busan, for transfers that reportedly took place in September 2017. Prosecutors are now examining the case, in order to determine whether or not to press charges against the vessel’s operator and master.
As Nooshin Namazi, Partner at Nicoletti Hornig & Sweeney, IUMI Professional Partner, informs, the US Federal Maritime Commission discovered that issues with charges for holding onto cargo beyond free time, traditionally referred to as demurrage or detention is prevalent among all actors in the international ocean supply chain, and not just shippers and consignees.
The Paris MoU has issued its list of detentions for February 2019, containing information about ships detained in the region during the month under review. The details of detentions are entered in the information system of the Paris MoU after the ship has been released.
Australian authorities detained the Liberian-registered bulk carrier ‘Anna-Elisabeth’ after crew onboard the vessel complained of insufficient food, bullying aboard the vessel and denial of shore leave. ITF received the complaints from onboard the ship berthed at the Port Kembla Coal Terminal on 25 March.
The UK is part of the Paris MOU PSC Regime. Inspections of foreign flagged ships in UK ports are undertaken by surveyors from the UK Maritime and Coastguard agency ( UK MCA) which publishes details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month.
