COASTGUARD NEWS - NATIONAL                 

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National 102/01
14 June 2001

16 FOREIGN SHIPS UNDER DETENTION IN THE UK DURING MAY

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that sixteen foreign ships were under detention in UK ports during May 2001 after failing Port State Control safety inspection.

Latest monthly figures show that 6 foreign ships were detained in UK ports during May 2001 along with 10 other ships still under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions is 6.5% compared with inspections carried out over the last 12 months. This is a decrease of 0.2% from the 12-month rate to April. The ships detained included: -

· A Cambodian flagged General Cargo Vessel detained for two days at Sunderland East Quay. The NAVTEX system was not working and the emergency fire pump was inoperative. The starboard lifeboat davit and the port lifeboat winch were not working.

· A Turkish flagged bulk carrier detained at Immingham for six days with defective vents, weathertight closures and inoperative emergency fire pump. In addition there was a lack of objective evidence that deficiencies relating to ISM/SMC documentation that had been identified during previous inspections had been rectified, reflecting a general lack of commitment to on board maintenance.

· A St. Vincent & The Grenadines flagged vessel detained at Goole for two days. The EPIRB had been incorrectly programmed. The model lacked self-test facilities and therefore the crew could not have detected the fault. If left undetected this could have serious ramifications in the event of an emergency.

Please note that the vessel TANGO was incorrectly identified as a Swedish flagged vessel in last months Press Notice. The vessel was unregistered at the time of detention.

A list of foreign-flag ships detained following inspections by surveyors from the MCA is published monthly and is also placed on the Internet at www.mcga.gov.uk

The list details the name, flag state, owner or operator and classification society of each detained ship together with the summary of the main grounds for detention.