Tag: UK MCA

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 ...

Crew of Sinking Fishing Vessel Rescued Off Portland At 3:15pm, Portland Coastguard received a routine telephone call from a member of the public advising the Coastguard that he had received a phone call from the skipper of the 11 metre Fishing Vessel Purbeck Isle, reporting they were taking water. The informant was unsure how many people were on board, the position was vague, but somewhere off Chesil Beach, west of Portland.Portland Coastguard immediately tasked the Weymouth RNLI all weather lifeboat and the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter R-106.Three further telephone calls were received at Portland Coastguard: from a parent of one of the crew; the owner of the vessel; and an off-duty lifeboatman. No one on board thought to report their predicament to the Coastguard using either their mobile phones, the VHF radio, or any other modern technological methods available to commercial mariners.Three other fishing vessels, including the Gordeano Star and the Swordfish all responded to the Coastguard broadcast and were tasked.The Coastguard Rescue Helicopter arrived on scene at 3:30pm and lowered their winch-man onto the deck of the stricken fishing vessel to find there were three people on board.The fishing vessel was indeed taking on water so the Rescue Helicopter lowered ...