Shipping companies and manning agents gear up to find ways and means to prevent rising cases of ship detentions.
Ship detentions have become the cause for serious concern in shipping circles. The number of Indian ships getting detained in foreign ports by port state control authorities this year has already surpassed the figure of the past four years average. This has resulted in more and more shipping companies and ship manning agents coming up with ways and means to enlighten their floating staff on avoiding ships detention.
“The number of detentions from April to December this year has already touched 14,” stated Mr. Vijay Arora, Sr Principal Surveyor of Indian Register of Shipping, the Indian classification society. “This has been a cause of concern and extra effort is being brought to bear on shipping companies by the Directorate General of Shipping, Government of India to prevent any further detention.”
Several seminars and conferences held recently for the floating staff of Indian shipping companies as well as foreign manning companies have focused on topics relating to ship inspections, surveys and preventive methods to avoid detentions. Mercator Lines, IMC, Star Maritime Services, Anglo Eastern Ship Management, and others who have already conducted conferences have seen positive results. Others are in the process of holding similar programs.
Mr R Ashok, Country Manager of ABS, who is regularly consulted by various shipping and manning companies says, “Despite the downturn detentions are on the increase. It is the quicker turnaround which is the cause for concern. The short stay in port has caused pressure on ship maintenance operations. What is further aggravating the situation is the backlog which keeps mounting. Yet another factor is that the ship’s staffs keeps changing frequently and there being no continuity the condition of poorly maintained ships continues to erode tremendously.”
No doubt the basic aim for the mandatory port state control (PSC) inspection of foreign ships is to achieve safer ships and cleaner seas. Carrying out this activity ensures compliance with domestic and international standards governing the prevention of pollution from ships and installations in territorial waters. It also includes the protection of the marine environment and embraces crew safety and encompasses the welfare of seafarers at sea.
PSC inspections are usually conducted under clearly defined programmes by maritime states conforming to regional Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), which are in accordance with IMO Conventions such as SOLAS, (Safety of Life at Sea) Load Line, STCW’95 (
Standards of Training, Certification and Watch- keeping) and Marpol (Maritime pollution).
According to Capt Pradeep Chawla, director, QA & Training of Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Ltd, Hong Kong Detentions do help in improving the standard of the ship continuously because somebody outside one’s own company checks to see if there are any flaws or mistakes. “But many-a-time detentions take place because particular individuals have a different view-point. As an individual it can happen that someone has a much different interpretation about a particular thing.”
Taking a much stronger stand MP Patwardhan, Executive Director of Chowgule Steamships says, “There are ships getting detained on flimsy grounds because wide powers are given to flag state inspectors. If detentions are made on account of faults that could affect the mariner’s life and maritime safety it is fine, but to detain in order to have certain repairs carried out which neither endanger the ship nor the lives of the sailors abroad it is not at all justified.”
Perhaps decisions for detaining ships could best be left to select committees rather than individual officials.