＂Quality＂, the watchword for UK Club inspectors

Of 523 vessels visited by the UK P&I Club's ship inspectors during 2000, some 97 per cent were up to the general standard required.

Some 279 ships (53 per cent) incurred no comments at all on their condition or operations. A further 226 (43 per cent) were offered suggestions for improvement, particularly in respect of service, maintenance and safety standards. However, the volume of comment was well down on 1999. Some 14 vessels (just over two per cent) required unscheduled full condition surveys to bring them up to scratch. Two have remained in breach of the Club's rules with cover consequently restricted, one has been declined renewal and the other has been scrapped.

These findings were revealed in the UK Club's 2000 Ship Inspection Report, presented to directors.

The inspections took place in France, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the USA, Panama, India, Greece, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Just over 30 per cent of visits were to bulk carriers, nearly 20 per cent to tankers, 13 per cent to container ships and 11 per cent to general cargo vessels. Other visits were spread between all major ship types.

The inspectors look at cargoworthiness, manning, pollution control, service and maintenance, safety standards and operational performance. Having regard to these categories, ships are assessed as excellent, good, average/fair, below average or requiring full condition survey.

The vast majority of vessels were rated as excellent with good systems or good with improvements suggested to enhance overall performance.

The aim of the UK Club programme is to help shipowner members sustain and improve maintenance and operational standards and safe working practices across their fleets. According to Karl Lumbers, Manager of the UK Club's Ship Inspection Department, the watchword is 'quality.'

"A formidable array of authorities insist on it through legislation and regulation. In particular, the requirements of STCW and ISM, enforced with increasing rigour by Port State Control authorities, are a major influence on the conduct of shipping operations. For example, the Australian Maritime Authority is currently implementing an enhanced PSC inspection regime. At the same time, shippers demand 'quality' from the vessels, lines, masters and crews to whom they entrust their cargoes.

"We make no bones about our duty to members to reduce the number and financial impact of claims. However, our ship inspectors are there to help. All are ex-serving masters with a wealth of experience of ships and what it takes to run them - and an underlying sympathy with those who do the work."

Port State Control

There appears to have been a general rise in ship detentions across all classification societies as PSC activity has expanded across the globe. In the UK Club's experience, the authorities have been concerned mainly with fire fighting and lifeboat equipment and with oily water separators. The main detaining countries in 2000 were USA, Italy, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, Belgium, Spain and the UK.

However, there has been no indication of deteriorating standards among UK Club entered vessels nor indeed ships in general.

Mr.Lumbers added:

"Sensible Port State Control must be a positive step for the industry, as it is now one of the few truly independent means of enforcing regulation. Gone are the days when we could rely on flag state enforcement."

Accordingly, the club continues to maintain a dialogue with the authorities and assists members where it can.

Surveying new entrants

Condition surveys are a standard requirement for most new entrants to the Club. Of 268 survey files opened in 2000, 72 per cent were an entry requirement, encompassing all ships more than ten years old. This requirement stems from the late 1980s when a disproportionate number of claims were produced by structural failure among 10-14 year old vessels. Another eight per cent followed claims deficiencies and five per cent preceded reactivation of vessels after lengthy lay offs for modifications and repairs.

Special condition surveys carried out on ships found significantly wanting by the Club's inspectors accounted for only seven per cent of the total.

Formal recommendations for repair were made for 117 ships (44 per cent). They included 46 bulk carriers, 34 general cargo ships, 15 tankers and nine container ships. Seventy per cent were 15 to 24 years old.

The most frequently issued recommendations concerned cargoworthiness, in particular watertight integrity of hatch covers, firefighting equipment, lifesaving appliances, engine room bilges, hatch cover packing, nautical publications, cargo hold access hatches, hatch cover securing devices and navigational charts.

Getting more from data

The Club's managers are involved in initiatives to make better use of its huge fund of information on members' vessels, arising from the range of assessments and examinations over time. The ship inspection programme alone has covered nearly 5,600 ships since it began a decade ago.

A new analysis software is being introduced to allow data to be examined in greater detail; and to link with the Club's ClaimsTrac system to enable claims records to be brought to bear.

The ship condition report is being redesigned to make it more 'ship type' specific. This is consistent with more sophisticated systems and working practices being brought in on some ships. Further, the Club aims to move away from paper reports entirely in favour of electronic transmission and storage of data.

An internet-based electronic information transfer system would speed up reporting time, enabling the inspection department to receive pre-entry reports and photographs sooner; to store, retrieve and analyse them more easily; and to adapt them to events and circumstances. The Club hopes to trial these innovations shortly.

Mr Lumbers concluded:

"Taken overall, the extended analysis and availability of data will help the inspectors to keep their appreciation of problem areas under constant review, helping them to update quality indicators and to target ships and fleets for inspection more effectively"