§ Mr. Trotterasked the Minister for Trade whether he will make a statement on the progress made in the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on port state control which took effect on 1 July.
§ Mr. SproatThe results of the first three months, up to 28 September 1982, are encouraging. These show that 1,642 ships have been inspected throughout the region comprising the 14 European States. Of these, 63 ships were found to have serious deficiencies, these deficiencies being serious enough to detain or delay the ships for their rectification.
During this period the Department of Trade surveyors inspected 558 foreign ships in the United Kingdom's ports, that is, approximately one third of the total number. Of these, three ships were detained for having serious deficiencies. There were more deficiencies revealed by the Department's surveyors but these were of a lesser significance and were either put right before the ship sailed or were left to be corrected at the next port of call.
The commitment the United Kingdom made to inspect 25 per cent. of visiting foreign ships during the first year should be achieved without difficulty. The rate of inspections since the end of September has been maintained at a high level and five ships were detained because of serious deficiencies.
Unfortunately, in contrast, a number of the other maritime authorities have made little contribution to port State control within the first three months. This is partly as a consequence of their not having an established Government surveyor force to deploy on this work.
No reports have been received of United Kingdom ships being unduly delayed or experiencing any difficulty as a result of port State control.