EUROPE, CANADA TIGHTEN VESSEL INSPECTIONS

EUROPE, CANADA TIGHTEN VESSEL INSPECTIONS    The Paris Memorandum of Understanding, a maritime safety inspection group comprising European countries, Canada and Russia, are introducing tighter rules on July 22 to target high-risk ships.
   The port state inspection group said that certain categories of ships on its “black list” would be banned from ports of the member countries after two or three detentions caused by failures to meet safety standards.
   To lift the ban the flag state of the ship and, where appropriate, its classification society, will have to certify that the ship complies with required standards. The vessel will also have to “complete an expanded inspection at the owners’ expense,” the Paris Memorandum of Understanding said.
   Under the group’s rules, older oil tankers, chemical and gas carriers, bulk carriers and passenger ships must undergo a mandatory “expanded inspection” after 12 months from the last expanded inspection.
   In its 2001 annual report, the group found that the increasing trend of operational deficiencies related to vessel safety procedures is continuing at an alarming rate.