Australia has banned a handysize bulker linked to Taiwan shipowner Wisdom Marine for 90 days for a “plethora of detainable deficiencies”.
The Panama-flagged 18,969-dwt Babuza Wisdom (built 2009) is operated by Taipei-based Well Shipmanagment & Maritime Consultant Company Limited and appears on the fleet list of Wisdom Marine.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) described the vessel operating company as a “poor performing operator”.
“The operator’s run-ins with safety regulators in recent years have earned its fleet a detention rate which is more than five times the average for ships visiting Australian waters,” AMSA said.
“Given the operator’s poor performing history and repeated warnings from AMSA over other ships in its fleet which have been detained in recent years, Babuza Wisdom was considered to be a high-risk ship and was subsequently lined up for an inspection by AMSA in Geelong on 17 May 2023.
“That inspection revealed a defective rescue boat engine, defective reserve batteries for MF and HF radio systems and systemic maintenance and reporting failures within the implemented safety management system onboard,” AMSA added.
The maritime regulator said the vessel was immediately detained as it posed a “significant risk to safety and the environment”.
AMSA executive director of operations Michael Drake said a defective rescue boat engine critically compromised the ship’s ability to respond to an emergency like a person overboard event.
“That alone would have been cause for a detention,” Drake said.
“Compounding this was the defective reserve batteries for MF and HF radio systems which means the ship had no radio back-up if it lost main engine power, which is a feasible scenario given its maintenance and reporting failures.”
AMSA said a review of regulatory interactions with other ships operated by Well Shipmanagement & Maritime Consultant Company Ltd in the last three years identified “significant systemic failings and a trend of unacceptable performance of ships operated by the company”.
“We have repeatedly warned Well Shipmanagement & Maritime Consultant Company Ltd to ensure its ships meet the minimum international standards, and yet what we have seen is continued systemic failings which place the safety of seafarers and our environment at unacceptable risk,” Drake said.
“That is why we have taken the step to ban Babuza Wisdomfrom Australian waters for 90 days, which will send an even clearer message to the operator about the gravity in which we regard our role as a safety regulator, and our zero-tolerance approach to sub-standard ships.”
