The UK maritime regulator, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), has issued and distributed the following new documentation over the past few weeks.
02 December 2021
SI 2021 No. 1316 – The Merchant Shipping (Radiocommunications) (Amendment) Regulations 2021
View details Continue reading “Recent MCA documentation amendments released in December 2021”
AMSA has amended Exemption 06 to provide the domestic commercial vessel (DCV) industry with greater flexibility to temporarily operate if a liferaft is being serviced, repaired or replaced.
– Vessels can continue to temporarily operate if liferaft numbers are below complement, provided there are sufficient liferafts to accommodate all on board for a voyage;
– The number of persons and liferafts must be recorded in the vessel’s logbook prior to departure, and evidence that the liferaft is being serviced, repaired, or replaced must also be kept on board the vessel;
– If the liferaft is expected to be out of service for more than 14 days the vessel’s safety management system needs to be updated to address Continue reading “AMSA provides flexibility to continue to temporarily operate with liferafts undergoing servicing”
Sunseeker International is to adopt the Module F scheme of certification for its range, believed to be the first UK boatbuilder to adopt the endorsement. All of Sunseeker’s models will be certified by RINA by the end of 2022.
The certification is approved under the Recreational Craft Directive (2013/53/EU) and will apply to the boatbuilder’s entire range by the end of 2022.
For vessels between 12m and 24m, the certification will require two modules of assessment to be applied for. Sunseeker has appointed notified body RINA to carry out the work.
“Going beyond the minimum requirements of the Recreational Craft Directive, to involve a higher level of scrutiny from a third party, demonstrates Sunseeker’s commitment to achieving the highest level of compliance and production quality; ultimately it’s about delivering excellence, to remain best- in-class,” said Ewen Foster, Sunseeker chief technical officer. Continue reading “Sunseeker set to adopt Module F scheme”
NCB Group, the New York based cargo inspection company and the leading provider of transportation software has announced that Hapag-Lloyd, one of the leading liner shipping companies, has signed an agreement to adopt the Hazcheck Detect cargo screening tool to detect misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods in containerised shipments. The solution has been developed and will be delivered by NCB’s software division, Exis Technologies, global leaders in IT solutions for the management of dangerous goods in sea transport.
Hazcheck Detect scans all cargo booking details for keywords and includes an industry library to enable suspicious bookings to be Continue reading “Hapag-Lloyd adopts Hazcheck Detect for misdeclared dangerous goods”
The carriage of bagged rice cargo is a potentially hazardous undertaking, with claims potentially running to millions of dollars when problems arise, says the Britannia P&I Club. The major issue with cargoes of bagged rice is the formation of mould or caking which can often be attributed to condensation due to inadequate ventilation, water ingress, moisture migration and improper dunnaging.
– Shortages due to pilferage;
– Damage to bags which are torn;
– Slack or lost overboard during stevedore operations; Continue reading “Carriage of bagged rice: An overview for the maritime sector”
In its most recent Good Catch series, the American Club provides lessons learned from corroded or damaged fuel oil vent pipes in cargo holds.
A bulk cargo vessel experienced a serious problem when some of the clay cargo entered fuel oil tanks through holes in the fuel oil tank vent pipes located in the cargo holds. The problem was first noticed by the engineers when the fuel oil filters became heavily clogged with what appeared to be cargo. After the engineers shifted to a different fuel oil tank, the problem stopped. After offloading the clay and cleaning the cargo holds, the vent pipes were closely inspected in each cargo hold. Continue reading “Fuel oil tank vent pipes should be inspected regularly”
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board of Ireland (MCIB) has published its report on the sinking of FV Aztec, which took place off Duncannon on 11 January 2021.
The FV Aztec sailed from Duncannon Pier, Co. Wexford to fish sprat in Waterford Estuary alongside its paired trawler the “FV Western Dawn”. There was no risk assessment or method statement for this type of fishing arrangement included in the vessel’s safety statement.
The FV Aztec shot its net first and hauled fish at 09.30 hrs. These fish were stowed in pounds in the fish hold divided by boards. It was Continue reading “Lack of risk assessment contributes to sinking of FV Aztec”
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced its intention to issue a set of interim rules on certain covered small passenger vessels, the first step to implementing the statutorily mandated requirement. The interim rule is in response to the fire and loss of life on the dive boat Conception off the coast of California on 2 September 2019.
This interim rule adds additional fire safety requirements for small passenger vessels, including fire detection and suppression systems, avenues of escape, egress drills, crew firefighting training, watchmen monitoring devices, and the handling of flammable items such as rechargeable batteries. Continue reading “USCG plans to issue interim rules to improve small passenger vessel safety post dive boat tragedy”
The UK government has confirmed that from 1 January 2022, recreational boat owners will not be required to pay a second amount of UK VAT if their vessels have been outside the UK for more than three years.
Boat owners returning their vessels to the UK can claim relief from import VAT under returned goods relief (RGR) if they meet all the conditions for the relief. One of these conditions is that the goods or effects must normally be re-imported into the UK within three years of the original date of export. Continue reading “New VAT legislation is good news for UK boat owners”
The International Institute of Marine Surveying has published a special new one-shot, 100-page publication, entitled the IIMS 2021 Safety & Loss Prevention Briefings Compendium.
Download the compendium: 2021 Safety Loss Prevention Briefings Compendium
The broad aim of this compendium is to showcase incident and accident reports, and loss prevention measures/guidance that were issued in 2021, all easily accessible in one pdf document. Much of the content is distressing and covers carnage, destruction and sadly deaths. This new publication is an essential reference resource for any marine surveyor’s online library as well as those whose work touches the surveying profession and for the wider maritime world. The many links in the publication are clickable, meaning readers can easily access more details about an item of particular interest.
Introductions by Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention at Standard P&I Club and Geoff Waddington, IIMS President, add informative and valuable context to the publication. Continue reading “New one-shot publication from IIMS: 2021 Safety & Loss Prevention Briefings Compendium”
The Seafarers’ Charity is pleased to report that the project to develop safety management onboard fishing vessels to the standard of the Fishing Safety Management (FSM) Code is well underway.
The new service called Fishing First Safety Management System by SafetyFolder, is being developed to improve safety in the UK fishing fleet and, at the same time, increase supply chain transparency.
50 fishing vessels have joined the project which started in the South West of England and are receiving professional support to develop Continue reading “50 Vessels join the Fishing First Safety Management Project”
The U.S. Coast Guard has issued its report from its investigation into a fatality on lifeboat on Shell’s Auger tension leg platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in 2019.
The incident took place during a routine lifeboat launch and retrieval drill on June 30, 2019. Two people inside the lifeboat were killed when it fell 80 feet, landing upside down in the water. Another person, who was exiting the lifeboat when it released, was seriously injured.
According to the report, the aft hook on the Auger platform’s Lifeboat No. 6 inadvertently opened as the lifeboat was being winched into the davit following the drill. “The lifeboat, still hanging from the forward hook, swung in a pendulum motion away from the facility. A few Continue reading “Fatality on lifeboat caused by damaged release cable”
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