§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list full details of all inspections undertaken by the Marine Safety Agency of roll-on roll-off ferries using United Kingdom ports in the last 12 months, including the date of inspection, name of the ship, details of defects and remedial action. [15117]
§ Mr. NorrisThis is an operational matter for the Marine Safety Agency.
I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member. Copies of the tables referred to will be placed in the Library.
Letter from R. M. Bradley to Ms Joan Walley, dated 22 March 1995:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your question about the inspections undertaken on roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ferries.A list showing the name of the ship and the date and place of inspection of foreign flagged ro-ro cargo ships and ro-ro passenger ferries inspected by the Marine Safety Agency in the last twelve months is attached (Table 1). A separate list containing the same information on Red Ensign ro-ro passenger ships is also provided (Table 2). The Marine Safety Agency conducted an inspection campaign on ro-ro ships calling at UK ports following the sinking of the Estonia and the details of the inspections are shown in Table 3 and Table 4 attached.Provision of the details of defects found during these inspections would, we estimate, result in a document of 400–500 pages, and could not be provided other than at disproportionate cost. A list of any deficiencies found during an inspection is left on board the ship and it is the responsibility of the Master to ensure that appropriate remedial action is taken. Serious deficiencies resulting in the detention of a ro-ro passenger ferry were found in only one case in the past twelve months. Details of any ro-ro cargo ships detained can be found in the lists of ships under detention in UK ports which have been published each month by the Marine Safety Agency since June 1994.