Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1985 (Hansard, 4 April 1985)

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I beg to move that the draft Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1985 laid before the House on 28th February 1985 be approved.
With the leave of the House I should like to speak to the other three Merchant Shipping Regulation orders standing in my name on the Order Paper. These regulations will implement in part the first set of amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 1974) which were adopted in 1981. For ease of reference, I shall refer to them as the amendments.
The 1978 Protocol to the 1974 Convention required that no more favourable treatment in meeting the requirements of the Convention—and that includes amendments to it—be given to ships of non-convention countries. It is in this context that these 395 regulations apply certain of the amendments to ships of all other countries while they are within the United Kingdom or our territorial waters. Implementation of the amendments in respect of such ships will be completed when regulations for the carriage of grain, for fire prevention and for radio installations are made. They are to be laid in the House after the Easter recess. Separate regulations have already been made under negative procedure to apply all of the amendments to United Kingdom ships.
The House may find it helpful if I give a brief summary of each regulation. I shall commence with the Merchant Shipping (Application of Construction and Survey Regulations to other ships) Regulations 1985. In this field, regulations already applying the amendments to United Kingdom ships built on or after 1st September 1984 are: the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984, (SI 1984/1216), and the Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984, (SI 1984/1217).
This statutory instrument also applies those two sets of regulations to new non-United Kingdom passenger and cargo ships respectively; that is, ships which were built on or after 1st September 1984. However, in the case of non-United Kingdom passenger ships, it applies the requirements for watertight doors and the openings in the shell plating required by the amendments only, and not the stricter standards which will apply to all United Kingdom passenger ships.
I shall now move on to the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 1985. At present, the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction) Regulations 1980, (SI 1980/535), apply to United Kingdom ships built before 1st September 1984 and to all non-United Kingdom ships regardless of their date of build. This new statutory instrument will bring United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom ships into line by amendng the 1980 regulations so that they will apply only to those ships both United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom built before 1st September 1984. All passenger ships built on or after that date will be required to comply with the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984 (SI 1984/1216), except, as mentioned earlier, that non-United Kingdom ships will not be required to comply with the stricter requirements for watertight doors and the openings in the shell plating.
The more stringent standards which it is intended to apply to United Kingdom passenger ships for watertight doors, results from actions taken following a recent shipping casualty. I refer to the collision between the passenger ferry "European Gateway" and the "Speedlink Vanguard", a cargo ro-ro ship, at the entrance to the port of Harwich in December 1982. In that collision, the hull of the "European Gateway" was badly breached and the ship sank with the tragic loss of six lives.
Subsequent investigations into the cause of this incident and loss of the ship revealed that a number of watertight doors giving access between machinery spaces were open at the time of the collision. Unfortunately these doors, while complying with both 396 national and international requirements, could only be closed by manual means. Although strenuous efforts were made to close two of them, it was not possible to do so. Under the amendments and the then existing national regulations, the need to provide power operation for the watertight doors fitted in passenger ships arises only when more than five doors of the type which can be opened at sea are fitted with only three such doors.
Following a formal investigation into this casualty, the court in its report made a number of recommendations, one of which was that: The power operation of watertight doors in passenger vessels should be made mandatory". As a result of this recommendation and following detailed discussions with United Kingdom shipowners it was agreed that our national regulations should be amended accordingly. Consequently, it is now necessary to ensure that in all United Kingdom passenger ships all sliding watertight doors which may be required to be open at sea are power operated and capable of remote control.
As regards the other topic—that is, openings in the shell plating—this relates to improved means of drainage from the enclosed spaces in all types of ships. Here, the opportunity has been taken, after full consultation with the General Council of British Shipping, to introduce measures which were agreed and recommended for adoption in 1982 by the International Maritime Organisation.
The next regulations are the Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1985. At present, the Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1981 (SI 1981/572) apply to United Kingdom ships built before 1st September 1984 and to non-United Kingdom ships built before and after that date. This statutory instrument will bring United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom ships into line by amending the 1981 regulations so that they will apply only to pre-1st September 1984 ships, both United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom, and Statutory Instrument (1984/1217), the Merchant Shipping (Cargo Ship Construction and Survey) Regulations 1984, will apply to United Kingdom and non-United Kingdom ships built on or after that date.
Additionally, these regulations require non-United Kingdom ships built pre-1st September 1984 to meet the appropriate requirements in the amendments for steering gear and surveys. These are requirements which pre-1st September 1984 United Kingdom ships are meeting under the 1981 regulations as previously amended.
Finally, I refer to the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations 1985. These regulations apply to non-United Kingdom ships the provisions already made for United Kingdom ships in the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Equipment) Regulations 1984 (SI 1984/1203). Additionally, provision is made for depth-sounding devices in United Kingdom passenger ships not engaged in international voyages.
In the case of navigational equipment, such equipment installed in United Kingdom ships is 397 required to meet national specifications—Regulation 2(9) of these amending regulations. The amendments require that all equipment fitted in compliance with Regulation 12 of Chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 shall be of a type approved by the administration—Regulation 2(2) of the 1984 Regulations. The United Kingdom specifications incorporate the operational standards set out by the International Maritime Organisation together with the methods for testing the equipment and the results required. This arrangement provides the means by which the United Kingdom Administration approves the equipment. I commend these safety regulations to your Lordships' House.

§ Lord Carmichael of Kelvingrove
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for the care that he took in explaining the amendments. I thank him also for having the courtesy to send me the details of the proceedings of the Statutory Instruments Committee held in another place. As the noble Lord will be aware, statutory instruments are frequently highly specialised. The distinguished members of the committee, representing all parties and Parliament itself, looked at the matter carefully. After reading their comments and having spoken to one or two of those who served on the committee, I feel that there is little I can say except that the amendments appear to make life at sea that much more safe for most people.
There is one small point that I should like to raise, and it may be that I missed it when reading the regulations. I do not expect the noble Lord to answer me now but perhaps he would be good enough to consider the matter. We refer to "British ships" and "non-United Kingdom ships". I assume that this will apply to ships flying flags of convenience? As I have said, I do not expect the noble Lord to answer me now. But I hope that he will be able to let me know the answer later. Other than that, and in view of the fact that I have received no representations from either the shipping companies or the National Union of Seamen, I wish God speed to these regulations.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Carmichael, for his reception of these measures. I think that the answer to this question is, yes, but if I find that that is not so I shall certainly write to the noble Lord.