200125 Why is there no Central Registrar of Defects

Why is there no Central Registrar of Defects
Report No. 200125

It is a sore point that surveyors such as myself who regularly visit vessels and find them to be substandard, indeed, unseaworthy, are unable to take any effective action. All the rules and regulations in the world are of no benefit if they are not, or cannot be, applied. There needs to be a system whereby reputable surveyors / survey companies in the commercial field or otherwise can report to a central authority on vessels or crews which, in their opinion, are of a substandard nature. Until the owners of such vessels are "hit in the pocket" they will continue to trade and be a hazard to themselves, other vessels and the general environment.

A recent example of the problem was a pre-loading hold inspection and suitablity survey on a vessel which was to load fertiliser. The vessel was quite old but held valid certificates and the Load Line annual endorsement had been signed three months previously. The Class was a highly respected organisation.

The hatch coamings and hatch lids were severely corroded and wasted away. In places the metal was less than 3mm thick over large areas. Several holes were visible through the sides of the coamings and others were found in places where marine tape had been applied and painted over. In places the corrosion at deck level was such that the vertical plate was visibly no longer attached to the deck. There were also numerous holes in the drain channels and in many areas the inner plate lip was totally wasted away. Drain holes were blocked and none had non-return valves. I found corrosion holes in the hatch lids and many repairs already made to hatch lid plating where the plate patch had not been attached to the underside framing.

The compression bars were in good order but the hatch lid rubber seals were in an appalling state. They were either missing, torn, twisted or packed with foam rubber and compacted. I refused to pass the vessel as suitable and informed the master that repairs needed to be carried out and that these were in areas subject to Load Line conditions and any repairs would have to be approved by Class. Neither the master, owners or operators wished to involve Class surveyors or even undergo a hatch hose test.

After 36 hours, the vessel reported that the repairs had been completed. I found that the repairs were not complete. Several holes were still being repaired by ship's staff. Eighty metres (all available stock) of hatch rubber had been renewed but this was not sufficient to solve the all hatch seal problems. I would not accept the repairs without Class approval as they had been carried out by ships staff with unsuitable materials and welding of doubtful quality. "Bird droppings" would perhaps best describe the appearance of many of the weld runs.