Three car carriers were detained in the UK last month after falling foul of port state control inspections.
One vessel, the 750-ceu Ro Queen (built 1995), was found to have 50 deficiencies during an inspection in the port of Avonmouth at Bristol, south-west England.
Ten of these deficiencies were sufficient for the Levant Ship Management-owned vessel to be detained, according to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), including faults with the main engine and oil record book that were found to be “not as required”. The ship also had severe hull corrosion.
The crew were said to have a “lack of training” when it came to an evaluation of their performance in a fire drill, and the ship’s personal equipment for fire safety was not up to the required standards.
The Ro Queen’s radar was “inoperative”, while the electronic charts for its ECDIS had not been updated. Its International Safety Management (ISM) code practices were found to be “not as required”.
Norwegian shipowner UECC’s 2,080-ceu Autosun (built 2000) was detained at Bristol’s Royal Portbury when 24 deficiencies were uncovered, including six that warranted detention.
Fixed fire extinguishing installation and the ISM on board the Portugal-flagged vessel were found to be “not as required”, while fire doors were malfunctioning.
The crew were said to have shown a lack of knowledge over fire drills, and alarms in the unmanned machinery space were inoperative.
Royal Portbury was also the scene of the detention of the Japanese-owned Garnet Ace (built 2010).
The Panama-flagged, 6,334-ceu car carrier was found to have 23 deficiencies, two of which were grounds for detention, according to MCA surveyors.
These included the crew’s lack of familiarity with fire drills and a substandard ISM performance.
