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Suella! Braverman!
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Posted 1 year agoOK TJ, I will try but it’s quite complex and nuanced, it’s also a while since I did my college times, so some of the detail might have mistakes.
The barge is Registered in Barbados. That is the Flag State. They will have their standards and requirements for manning, safety etc. It’s a Flag of Convenience and although not as bad as some, will be a little more laid back, than the likes of the UK, Canada, Norway etc.
Barbados will not have a large organisation like our MCA to enforce or inspect, so will rely on the Classification Society to check everything, structure, safety equipment, hygiene etc. In fact, nowadays, even the MCA rely on Class most of the time.
This will allow the owners to get suitable insurance to allow them to operate.
the certification is valid for 5 years and a lot can change in that time. Although they usually have a rolling program of inspection over that period.
Now Classification Societies are commercial operations, so aren’t always considered truly independent, so in the 1980’s, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_state_control was brought in. This allows a foreign authority to inspect a ship of a different flag went entering their ports. This is intended ensure standards are maintained as it’s in the port state interest not to have leaky, dangerous ships operating in their waters.
The barge will have a maximum occupancy certificate, which will be issued by Class. This will take into account, liferafts, lifejackets etc. It also will require a minimum amount for space for each person in the cabin. Looking at the photos I can’t see any reason why 2 people would not be allowed to live in those cabins. Any changes would have to be agreed and signed off by class inspectors.
The barge will have a Safety Management System which ties everything together, operating procedures, etc. This would include evacuation and fire fighting. There will be a minimum crewing level as well.
With a “normal” charter, all of these requirements would be contracted in but this is no normal charter!
When operating normally, the barge would have a crew, engineers, catering, cleaning, medic etc. In addition to their routine duties they will emergency roles, fire fighting, liferafts etc. Maybe they have tried to cut back and use cheaper staff which don’t have appropriate training?
Once the barge is tied up in Portland Harbour, it can be inspected by the Port State ie. the UK MCA.
If it has any failings, then they can have enforcement notices placed on them, which could prevent them operating and/or leaving.
The Class for this is covered by Lloyds, generally considered one of the better ones, so you would expect everything to be done above board. However, some vessel owners will try to sneak things past class and make changes without notifying them or getting anything agreed in principle beforehand. This generally pisses them right off and they come down on the owner much harder than if they had engaged with them earlier.
After typing all this down, I now have another possibility, the owners made modifications to increase the capacity to what was contracted for without running it by Class. They are now trying to get certification and Class are not happy, so hence the delay. The pictures of the bunk beds are not what I was expecting to see, they look like something from Ikea, not something you would normally have, which would be fixed onto the bulkhead.
something like this:
It would also explain the MCA haven’t done anything, as they know nothing will happen until they get that sorted, then maybe they will perform their role as the Port State.
Also, as this has been the shonkiest bit of contracting, I bet there is no contractual requirement for certification, just a barge with 500 bunks, so no contractual comeback.
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