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BMT Surveyors Highlight Unecessary Risks to Ships Laid Up Inappropriately
08-Feb-2010
Increasing numbers of merchant ships left without work during the trade downturn are being involved in costly and unnecessary casualties, a London insurance market seminar organised by BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group, has been told. Despite the insistence of maritime authorities and insurers on detailed precautions and supervision, ships have been damaged or written off while laid up in Far East anchorages.
Paul Jackson, operations director of BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys, gave examples of recent losses, including a containership that had been laid up for most of the summer off Hong Kong, in a known typhoon zone, with a reduced crew. As the ship tried to manoeuvre clear in fierce winds, it was sent rolling at up to 35 degrees, causing extensive damage and resulting in the death of the third officer. The ship had to be repaired at a cost of at least $250,000. Another large containership laid up in a typhoon zone was pushed onto rocks southwest of Macao amid violent rolling which repeatedly tripped out the engine; it became an expensive constructive total loss.
"These examples pose the questions: are ship owners informing underwriters about what they are doing with their ships, and are they putting commercial considerations ahead of the safety of ships and crew."
Under conditions recommended by the London Joint Hull Committee, underwriters have to agree to location and lay-up arrangements, including proper supervision and marine survey. Mr Jackson asked: "Is it that shipowners do not want the reactivation issues related to the safer locations, when they think the first sniff of movement will come from the Far East? Are they informing insurers? And do flag states know that these vessels have reduced manning?"
A list of 400 approved lay-up locations was compiled by the London market in the 1980s, but had not been updated as it was thought unlikely there would be such demand again. Since then there have been changes in infrastructure and other conditions at such sites. The former Joint Hull Returns Bureau approved only a few locations in the Far East because of the propensity to storm damage.
In the 1980s, some 300 ships were laid up in the benign conditions of Elefsis Bay, Greece. However, despite initial enquiries, the current recession has seen just 30 ships moor there. The vast majority of operators preferred to keep their vessels waiting in the east, not formally laid up, but described as "awaiting orders."
Mr Jackson also referred to the "indiscriminate anchoring" of vessels in non-designated anchorages outside port limits -thus avoiding paying port dues -- along the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Between 150 and 200 vessels were involved. "We have already seen several collisions. There is a real potential for serious incidents, especially in poor weather conditions."
Peter Broad, BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys' client relationship manager, added that if a vessel is in "warm lay-up with some machinery working, to all intents and purposes the vessel is still active," and safe manning and other certificates should be maintained. Where flag states have granted reduced manning, "I would want to ask what that ship was doing."
BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys will be running further CII accredited seminars in New York, Greece and Hong Kong in the first half of 2010. These will address topics such as lay-up problems, new bunker fuel regulations, polar ice operations as well as the Chinese newbuilding and components market.