‘Unstable tankers’ give PSC cause for concern
Preliminary results from the Paris MoU concentrated inspection campaign on tanker damage stability, carried out between 1 September 2010 and 30 November 2010 show that 16% of ships inspected were potentially dangerous.
A total of 173 tankers (77 oil tankers, 84 chemical tankers and 12 gas tankers), some 16.2%, could not demonstrate that they were normally loaded in accordance with the stability information booklet (SIB).
According to the Paris MoU secretariat, over recent years several of its members had shown concern that in some cases tankers were not being loaded in compliance with IMO damage stability requirements, which means that in the case of a collision or grounding the ship may not survive, resulting in possible pollution or even loss of life.
The Paris MoU committee decided to instigate a concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) on tanker damage stability in the region over a three-month period in late 2010 in order to assess the situation regarding damage stability. The CIC questionnaire was completed on a total of 1065 tankers (419 oil, 538 chemical and 108 gas tankers).
A total of 94 (8.8%) inspections resulted in deficiencies directly related to the CIC. Four tankers were detained as a direct result of the CIC for not complying with damage stability requirements. (two oil and two chemical tankers).
Richard Schiferli, general secretary said: “It may seem that only four detentions is a very small number, considering the number of ships that could not show that they were loaded in compliance with their stability information booklet. It was agreed, however, that during the CIC, detention was a last resort. Only for cases where the ship was loaded for the forthcoming voyage and could not show damage stability compliance prior to departure, a detention order was issued. Therefore tanker damage stability should remain an area of attention in the future”.
Pat Dolby, co-ordinator of the CIC commented: “The most significant finding from the campaign was that 16.2% of tankers that were inspected the master could not demonstrate that the ship was normally loaded in accordance the SIB. This is a significant number of tankers that, during a ‘spot check’, could not show compliance with stability requirements and thus may pose a risk to the environment”.
The detailed results will be submitted for review to the 44th meeting of the Port State Control committee in May 2011, after which the report will be submitted to the IMO.
