Vessels detained in UK

HOW MANY MORE LIVES ARE WE WILLING TO GIVE UP FOR THE SAKE OF PROFITS AND LAXITY OF PORT STATE CONTROL (OR PERHAPS CORRUPTION????) IN THE DOMESTIC SHIPPING INDUSTRY?

For the month of May 2008 alone , The UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced that 9 foreign flagged ships were detained in various UK Ports after failing Post State Control (PSC) Inspection. During this month , 120 PSC Inspections were carried out and results show that 34 vessels had no deficiencies raised against them, 59 had between 1 and 5 deficiencies, 15 had between 6 & 10 deficiencies and 3 vessels inspected had more than 20 deficiencies. One of the vessels was detained (a multipurpose cargo vessel) in Belfast because of failures identified in the life saving appliances and the main engine high pressure fuel lines drains which were not connected. This is a major non-conformity against ISM with regards to the breakdown of the maintenance of ship and equipment and the lack of familiarity with life saving and firefighting equipment. (Source: Shiptalk News dated June 17, 2008)

A PERSONAL NOTE: Perhaps our Phil. Ports System and Phil. Coast Guard should follow the same strict principles of initiating PSC Inspections before allowing any of our domestic ships to leave port. Perhaps we could have avoided another horrible incident like the MV Princess of the Stars. Reports say that the ship had engine trouble days before the incident happened.