Concerns raised over 'dodgy' certification of unseaworthy ships

THE current phenomenon of high freight rates is driving some shipping operators to continue operating rather than scrapping ageing ships, often with dodgy certification, thereby posing a distinct risk to global shipping, says maritime specialist, C aptain Roy Martin. The qualified Master Mariner, marine surveyor, consultant, auctioneer and lecturer, believes the practice of patching up and putting back into service ships that have reached the ‘sail by’ date, requires closer scrutiny. “Freight rates being as high as they are, vessel owners are unlikely to run into financial difficulties; even so, it is not worth their while spending loads of money on repairing rundown ships so they just keep them going.” There are the top ten or 11 blue ships classification societies – Lloyds of London for one – all of whom practice a rigid regimen as members of the International Association of C lassification Societies (IACS). But, Martin tells FTW, there exists “a whole bunch” of so-called societies around the world prepared to issue certification for cash, without questions asked. “These questionable certification societies have been cause for concern for quite some time as they are even willing to hand over documentation without ever having set foot on a vessel. Martin recalls a conversation with a ship’s engineer in Mombasa in the wake of a two-cargo-ship collision and several fatalities. The engineer confirmed certification was handed over at the gangway in exchange for US$10 000. As to the rich pickings to be had for vessel operators, he says capesize bulk carriers on charter have exceeded US$160 000-odd a day and could well be headed for US$200 000, whereas the average rate, year-on-year, was US$68 000 a day in 2005. “Even a handysize with operating costs of around US$10 000 a day means the owner is making US$500 million profit a month, so if he has to spend US$5 million on repairs, something he would never have thought of in the past but rather gone for scrap, he is bound to get another five years of work out of her.” With 30 years experience of investigating ships, Martin says: “Some of them are quite horrific on the inside, the vessel frames paper thin, to which some classification societies turn a blind eye, so it’s really scary; enough to raise the hair on anybody’s back.” As is to be expected few debt-riddled vessels make for few judicial sales, as Martin is able to testify. Last year, his Durban-based Admiralty Sales auctioned the tug and supply vessel Really Deliverer to N igerian interests for US$1.2 million and prior to that, in 2006, the general cargo ship Essco Bounty for US$860 000. She had been abandoned by her owners in West Africa, her crew agreeing to a request by a creditor Greek bunker company to sail her to C ape Town in exchange for salaries and repatriation.