Tag: UK MCA

The ship was not fully compliant with international maritime safety regulations A luxury cruise liner has been cleared to sail after it was detained in Southampton for not complying with international safety regulations.MCA surveyors visited the 59,000 tonne MSC Opera on its arrival in the city on Wednesday to undertake a routine port state control inspection.A spokesman said: "Various defects were found which meant that the ship was not fully compliant with international maritime safety regulations."As a consequence the MCA decided that it was necessary to detain the vessel in Southampton until such time as the owners were able to demonstrate compliance."MCA surveyors made a number of follow-up visits to the ship to assess progress before it was finally cleared to sail this evening.The vessel is offering cruises this summer to Amsterdam, France and Spain as well as the Norwegians fjords and the Baltic operating from Southampton.The Panama-registered vessel is able to carry up to 1,712 passengers and 720 crew and has nine passenger decks with the usual features such as pools, restaurants and theatres.The cruise ship had been due to leave Southampton at 4pm for an eight-day cruise to the Norwegian fjords.A spokeswoman for the company said earlier that ...

After PSC inspection The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced that nine foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during April 2011 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection.Latest monthly figures show that there were six new detentions of foreign flagged ships in UK ports during April 2011 and three vessels remained under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 3.03% this is slightly up from Marchs twelve month rate.Out of the detained vessels five were registered with flag states listed on the Paris MOU white list, two were registered with a flag state on the grey list none were registered with flag states on the black list and two were unregistered.SHIPS DETAINED IN APRIL 20111. Date & Place of detention: 04/04/2011 Bromborough Vessel Name: EST (General Cargo) GT: 920 IMO No 8609931 Flag: Latvia Company: A & A Trading Ltd Classification Society: Bureau Veritas (BV) Recognised Organisation: Bureau Veritas (BV) Recognised Organisation for ISM: Bureau Veritas (BV) Summary: 18 deficiencies; one ground for detention The vessel was detained in Bromborough for five days because of a large number of Safety Of Life At Sea ...

Guidance for all vessels engaged in transfers of persons at anchor or underway Ship to ship transfers of personnel are day to day occurrences in the shipping industry and have been for centuries. Therefore it is alarming that in this day and age of safety culture, regulation and inspection that catastrophic injuries and even fatalities still occur.Be it the embarkation of a pilot, crew changeover or stevedores gaining access to work the ship whilst in port these accidents are still common and are becoming increasingly costly to the Ship owner. First and foremost the safe access to a vessel is the responsibility of the Master and therefore the Shipowner is liable for all costs and expenses if such an accident should take place.From the Club's records we see that these occurrences are not the restricted to old vessels, substandard ports or maligned crew but occur on all vessel types of all age ranges and in ports both new and well established. Put simply the entire maritime sector is susceptible to these accidents but worryingly with increasing costs.The Club's records show that the average claim for incidents such as these regularly runs up to the 1$m markFollowing a recent highly publicised ...

Failing Port State Control inspection The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that 4 foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during March 2011 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection.Latest monthly figures show that there were no new detentions of foreign flagged ships in UK ports during March 2011 but 4 vessels remained under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 2.68% this is slightly down from Februarys twelve month rate.Out of the detained vessels none were registered with flag states listed on the Paris MOU white list, 1 was registered with a flag state on the grey list none were registered with flag states on the black list and 3 were unregistered.DETENTIONS CARRIED OVER FROM PREVIOUS MONTHSDate & Place of detention: 04/03/2010 Lowestoft Vessel Name: CIEN PORCIENTO (General Cargo) GT: 106 IMO No: 8944446 Flag: Unregistered Company: Open Window Inc Classification Society: Unclassed Recognised Organisation: Not applicable Recognised Organisation for ISM: Not applicable Summary: 30 deficiencies 7 grounds for detention The vessel was detained in Lowestoft because the main fire pump was inoperative and there was no alternative fire pump outside the ...

None was wearing lifejackets Falmouth Coastguard this afternoon coordinated the rescue of a seven people from the water off Port Issac.All seven were the crew of a gig that was unable to get back in to Port Issac harbour because of the swell caused by a low spring tide. The Port Issac RNLI Inshore Lifeboat (ILB), which was training in the area, spotted that the gig had got into difficulties and held on to it to stop it being taken further out.None of the gig crew were wearing lifejackets and were only dressed in t-shirts. To protect them Port Issac ILB took lifejackets and warm clothing to them from the RNLI boathouse.Port Issac Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked to monitor the situation from the harbour. Unfortunately with the swell running the gig capsized throwing all seven crew into the water. All were quickly picked up by the ILB but with now nine onboard it was unable to get back in the harbour. Five of the gig crew were transferred to the RNLI Padstow All Weather Lifeboat (ALB) suffering shock, cold and some minor injuries. They were then taken to Treliske hospital by Royal Navy Rescue Helicopter 193 from Culdrose.The remaining ...

Fishing vessel fined for COLREGS violation At a hearing today at Folkestone Magistrates Court, the owners and skipper of a Belgian registered fishing trawler were prosecuted following an incident in the Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme on the 22 March 2009.On the 22 March 2009 the Belgium Trawler De Zwerver was on passage from Milford Haven to Belgium when the vessel was detected by the Dover Channel Navigation Service (CNIS) using the English Inshore Traffic Zone off Brighton. Its progress up the English Inshore Traffic Zone was continually monitored by Dover CNIS.The De Zwerver was still using the English Inshore Traffic Zone, when off the Port of Dover it had an near-miss incident with a cross channel Ferry. The Ferry had to take action to avoid the De Zwerver. The Master of the ferry reported the incident to Dover CNIS. De Zwerver continued to transit the English Inshore Traffic Zone enroute to its home port in Belgium.Throughout its transit of the English Inshore Traffic Zone, attempts were made to call the De Zwerver by radio but no response was received. Efforts were made to contact the owner and skipper of the De Zwerver after the incident but, again, no response ...

Four new detentions The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that nine foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during January 2011 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection.Latest monthly figures show that there were four new detentions of foreign flagged ships in UK ports during January 2011 and five vessels under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 2.75% this is slightly down from Decembers twelve month rate. Out of the detained vessels three were registered with flag states listed on the Paris MOU white list, three were registered with flag states on the grey list, one was registered with a flag state on the black list and two were unregistered. 1. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldsons 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 ...

Both have been recovered A collision between two vessels 30 miles south of Start Point in Devon left two fishermen in the water, both of whom have now been recovered.The collision, between a container ship the Boxford and a fishing vessel, the Admiral Blake, happened at 18.35. At 18.43, Brixham Coastguard received a mayday call that had been relayed by another fishing vessel (the Amber J) on behalf of the Admiral Blake, reporting that they had been involved in a collision and that they had a man overboard. One other crewman had also fallen overboard and although he had been recovered back on board he was cold and wet. There were two other people on board who were reported to be safe and well. They also stated that they were not in danger of sinking, however they were taking on water. Brixham Coastguard launched a major search for the man overboard, sending the Coastguard Rescue helicopter from Portland to the scene, along with launching the Salcombe Lifeboat. Several other vessels in the area including the Amber J, the Geeske, the passenger vessel Oriana and the rescue boat from the Boxford also assisted in the search. At 19.35, after an hour ...

Guilty to using unsafe commercial yachts At Southampton Crown Court on Friday 4th February 2011, two commercial yacht operators pleaded guilty to using unsafe commercial yachts on trans-Atlantic voyages when carrying students signed up for RYA training courses.Two separate operators, George Haworth of In2Sail Ltd and Colin Thomas of Straits Sailing had taken advantage of the growth in demand for trans-Atlantic sail training. Both used the internet to sell training courses for those wanting to go from novice to Yachtmaster Ocean. They ran inclusive costly courses but did not have vessels equipped to the minimum levels of lifesaving equipment. It was shown that George Haworth had sent students on a voyage from Cowes to St Lucia with a skipper that was not properly qualified on a yacht that had only the basic equipment to operate no more than 60 miles from a safe haven. The yacht Quay Three had only one valais liferaft stowed in a locker and the only means of distress alerting was by a VHF radio (of limited range) and an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). The vessel had no qualified mate. Events on the voyage included a collision with a whale and defective steering. The ...

FPSO experiencing heavy weather Aberdeen Coastguard are currently monitoring developments on the Gryphon A, operated by Maersk, a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) which is being buffeted by very heavy weather in the North Sea. The platform is based 175 miles north east of Aberdeen. Winds are currently 53 knots from the north west and the platform was recording a 12 degree roll earlier this morning. Nine metre seas are also being recorded. The unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore industry for the processing and storage of oil and gas. There are 114 people on board the vessel who have been mustered to their emergency positions. Two minor injuries have been recorded. Several anchor mooring positions have given way in the extreme weather conditions and production has been shut down. The vessels thrusters are still in operation and the team on board are trying to maintain their position in the very poor weather. The companys emergency shoreside team is co-ordinating support services. No gas has been detected. Work is underway with the air rescue co-ordination centre at Kinloss (ARCCK) to alert nearby platforms to take non-essential personnel should that prove necessary and helicopter bases have been ...