The Hindu Business Line : Ship owners warned about failure of equipment

The Director-General of Shipping has warned ship owners that failure of equipment in ships would invite disciplinary action against officials concerned.

The warning follows recent detention of Indian ships by Port State Control due to failure of emergency equipment such as lifeboat engines and emergency fire pump, according to DG Shipping, which deals with implementation of shipping policy and legislation in India.

Port State Control is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports to verify that the condition of the ship and its equipment comply with the requirements of international regulations and that the ship is manned and operated in compliance with these rules.

In the last two months, there were three detentions on account of lifeboat engines being unable to start. The reason for such failures was attributed by the ship's engineers/technical superintendents to the sub-zero temperatures prevailing in those areas/ports where the ships were subjected to the Port State Controlinspection. In another case, the emergency fire pump could not be started due to jamming of primary pump linkage as a result of fresh painting done on the pump mover by the ship staff one day before, according to DG Shipping.

It should, however, be clearly understood that such reasoning for non-performance of emergency equipments is unacceptable. Any emergency equipment is required to be available at any time or place for its ready use and any failure of these equipments can cause detention of the vessel instantly, the DG Shipping said.

The master, chief engineer and other senior ship staff should bear in mind that any detention of Indian vessel due to breakdown of emergency equipments will be viewed seriously by the Directorate.

The senior ship staff should, therefore, be extremely vigilant and ensure that the emergency equipments are maintained to the highest standards.

Any failure on their part, that may cause detention of the vessel, shall invite suitable disciplinary action against the officials concerned, under the provisions of the Act/Rules, as deemed fit, the DG Shipping said.