The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is seeking feedback from the public on a new code of practice for intended pleasure vessels (IPV)
The MCA would like feedback on a new proposal to allow pleasure craft to be temporarily used for business purposes and as race support boats.
The organisation has been working with British Marine, RYA, and the Yacht Brokers, Designers and Surveyors Association (YBDSA) to develop the new code of practice which is due to be published on 1 January 2019.
The code is divided into parts. The first refers to intended pleasure vessels (IPV) to be used for temporary commercial reasons and the second for said craft to be used to support race boats.
Vessels’ repair needs do not always match with planned maintenance schedules. With specialist underwater teams, no vessel is far from fast, high-quality repair and refurbishment that enable operators to avoid the potential loss of income related to dry-docking.
As the first global operator in the underwater services market, the technology group Wärtsilä is uniquely positioned to offer marine service and maintenance, regardless of the vessel’s location. Maintenance and repair services performed by specialist divers add to Wärtsilä’s comprehensive service offering such as dry docking, and allow for operators to minimise or eliminate vessel downtime.
“Reduced fuel consumption, efficiency improvements, and higher utilisation rates are always on the top of operators’ agenda. With our in-house specialist teams of certified diver technicians and propulsion experts, we are equipped to offer our customers underwater services Continue reading “Wärtsilä’s divers make the need for unscheduled dry-docking avoidable”
A sea anchor is a vital component to a rescue boat, reducing the likelihood of it drifting away or spinning around, and keeps it steady in the wind.
As more people are heading out to sea over summer, safety both onboard and overboard is under the spotlight. For this reason, an ISO has been updated for the effectiveness of sea anchors for rescue boats known as ‘ISO 17339:2018, Ships and marine technology – Life saving and fire protection – Sea anchors for survival craft and rescue boats.’
A sea anchor is a vital component to a rescue boat, reducing the likelihood of it drifting away or spinning around, and keeps it steady in the wind. The updated ISO for the performance and safety of sea anchors brings them in line with the IMO’s International Life-Saving Appliance Code.
The International Life-Saving Appliance Code prescribes the carriage and use of sea anchors for survival craft and rescue boats, yet the revised recommendation on testing of lifesaving appliances does not provide requirements of performance and testing procedure for the sea anchors. This document addresses those areas, which the IMO recommendation does not address, in order to enable consistent implementation by maritime Administrations.
The COI reports operational limitations which may have been exceeded while the voyage took place.
The US Coast Guard released the Certificate of Inspection (COI) for the ‘Stretch Duck 07’, the amphibious tour boat that sunk in Table Rock Lake, Missouri on July 2018 with the loss of 17 lives.
The COI reports operational limitations which may have been exceeded while the voyage took place. The limitation included limits on permissible weather and surface conditions.
It also indicates that the boat’s stability letter was issued on March 2009, and its last “drydock” was carried out in January 2017. Its operations were to occur in Table Rock Lake and nearby Lake Taneycomo, and it was not permitted to operate on the water “when winds exceed thirty-five (35) miles per hour, and/or the wave height exceeds two (2) feet”.
Maritime NZ describes a fire in the cargo hold of a container ship caused by the heat from a 500 watt light bulb as the ship was berthed in port on New Zealand’s East Coast in late 2017.
Maritime NZ has published its Lookout report. In it they present a range of of maritime casualties, offering some clear lessons that have been learnt. In this incident, Maritime NZ describes a fire in the cargo hold of a container ship caused by the heat from a 500 watt light bulb as the ship was berthed in port on New Zealand’s East Coast in late 2017.
The cargo hold fire incident
The floodlight was unintentionally left on after the hold was filled with timber packs. Some of the timber was destroyed in the fire and other packs charred, but the ship suffered only cosmetic damage. No-one was injured.
The cut timber had been loaded during the day and the 148 metre vessel was due to sail at the change of tide, when the cargo hold fire alarm sounded just before midnight.
His Majesty’s Australian Transport (HMAT) Warilda was transporting hundreds of wounded soldiers from the French port of Le Havre to Southampton
A Southampton-based maritime charity will lower its flag to half-mast today (3 August) to commemorate the sinking of hospital ship (HMAT) Warilda 100 years ago, which caused outrage across the nation when it was torpedoed in the English Channel, killing 123 people.
His Majesty’s Australian Transport (HMAT) Warilda was transporting hundreds of wounded soldiers from the French port of Le Havre to Southampton when, despite being clearly marked with the Red Cross, it was struck by a single torpedo from a German U-boat.
Upon impact the ship’s starboard propeller was disabled, the engine room flooded and the steering gear obliterated. Unable to steer, the Warilda continued moving in a circle at 15 knots – making it difficult for those on board to escape in lifeboats.
The ship remained afloat for almost two hours before sinking into the channel.
The MAIB is investigating the keel failure and capsize of the UK registered commercial yacht Tyger of London while on passage from La Gomera to Tenerife, on 7 December 2017. The five persons on board were rescued from the water by the crew of a nearby yacht.
Tyger of London was a Comar Comet 45S designed by Vallicelli & C and built in 2007 by Comar Yachts s.r.l, at Fiumicino, Italy. In common with other vessels built by the shipbuilder, the Comet 45S could be fitted with a choice of two keels: Continue reading “Safety bulletin after keel failure of Tyger of London”
In the aftermath of the report published into the fatal Platino accident in which two crew members of the yacht Platino died back in June 2016, Maritime NZ has announced regulatory changes. These apply to safety requirements for recreational vessels leaving New Zealand ports and for other recreational vessels operating in New Zealand waters.
The incident
Platino is a 19.78 metre-long sailing yacht built in 1997-98 and extensively refitted in 2015. It was certified to Category 1 standard by Yachting NZ on 11 May 2016 and sailed from Auckland bound for Fiji on 11 June 2016 with five crew on board. Continue reading “Following fatal Platino accident new regulations are introduced”
From January 2021, AMSA is imposing regulation that float-free EPIRBs will be mandatory on certain types of commercial vessel. This change to safety requirements is in response to tragic incidents in which commercial vessels sank quickly and the master and crew were not able to deploy their EPIRB in time.
A float-free auto-activating EPIRB can send a call for help within minutes of being submerged in water without any action by the crew. As AMSA General Manager of Standards Brad Groves said, float-free EPIRBs offer significant safety advantages for crew and passengers on vessels in distress.
Capt Yves Vandenborn, AFNI, Director of Loss Prevention at the Standard P&I Club, based in Singapore, writing in The Standard Club P&I’s bulletin addresses the International Safety Management Code on the occasion of its twentieth birthday. Twenty years and five amendments later after the Code came into effect in 1998, Mr Vandenborn examines its course so far and what, in his opinion, needs to be done in order to become more effective.
Background
The International Safety Management Code was born out of a series of serious shipping accidents in the 1980s, the worst of which was the roll-on roll-off ferry Herald of Free Enterprise which capsized at Zeebrugge in March 1987, killing 193 of its 539 passengers and crew. The cause of these accidents was a combination of human error on board and management failings on shore. The Herald of Free Enterprise public enquiry report concluded that ‘From top to bottom the body corporate was infected with the disease of sloppiness’.
What followed was a much needed change in maritime safety administration. In October 1989, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new Guidelines on Management for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention giving operators a ‘framework for the proper development, implementation and assessment of safety and pollution prevention management in accordance with good practice’. Following industry feedback, the guidelines became the ISM code in November 1993 and were incorporated in a new chapter IX of the IMO’s 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) in May 1994, and became mandatory for companies operating certain types of ships from 1 July 1998. Continue reading “What next as the International Safety Management Code turns 20?”
Following the appalling recent tragedy that led to multiple fatalities, a private contractor hired to inspect the fleet of “Ride the Ducks” tour boats in Branson, Missouri has raised questions about several duck boat design features that may have posed a potential safety hazard.
Steven Paul, an ex-Army diesel mechanic and private marine surveyor, told CNN that he conducted a pre-sale inspection of the Branson based Ride the Ducks fleet last year. He described a series of potential issues with the vessels and said that he had informed the new operator in a written report.
Following recent media reports about non-working, imported carbon monoxide (CO) alarms sold on internet shopping sites, the Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) is cautioning boaters that choosing the right CO alarm is an especially critical decision as boats can fill in minutes, sometimes seconds, with lethal levels of the highly toxic gas.
