Australia has launched an inspection campaign targeting cargo securing arrangements on containerships.
In the wake of several incidents of containers falling overboard, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the campaign will run from the beginning of August until the end of October.
It will involve extended port state control (PSC) inspections and stand-alone inspections on vessels that are not eligible for PSC inspection.
"Incidents like the losses of 81 containers by the YM Efficiency in 2018, 50 containers off the APL England in May and three containers from the Navios Unite in June have caused significant environmental damage to Australia’s iconic marine and coastal environment," the authority said.
Investigations are said to have discovered that the "improper stacking and securing of cargo and poor maintenance" of securing equipment are likely to have been "contributing factors" to these incidents.
"We have seen the serious consequence of improper cargo securing arrangements in the form of tonnes of plastics and other debris washing up on our beautiful beaches and floating in our oceans," said AMSA acting general manager of operations Michael Drake.
"Rusted cargo securing points, improper lashings and exceeding stack weight limits have all contributed to these incidents, and ship operators should be on notice that non-compliance will not be tolerated in Australia."
The authority said if a cargo ship visits Australia over the inspection period, the master should expect a visit from the AMSA.
Where vessels are found to be non-compliant, it will "take steps to bring the ship into compliance" before it is able to continue operating.
The 5,510-teu APL England (built 2001) was detained for several weeks in Brisbane, Queensland, having failed a Solas-related inspection after losing its containers.
Protection and indemnity clubs are also being asked to post financial security in the wake of such incidents to help cover the costs of any potential clean-up.
In May, the AMSA began legal proceedings against Yang Ming to recover the cost of recovering containers that fell overboard from the 4,250-teu YM Efficiency (built 2009).
