§ Sir David PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about roll-on roll-off passenger ferries built before 1980.
§ Mr. PortilloThe report of the formal investigation into the loss of the Herald of Free Enterprise drew attention to the revised requirements for stability in damaged condition introduced in 1980 and applied to United Kingdom roll-on roll-off passenger vessels built after that date. Although the Herald of Free Enterprise was in fact built to the 1980 standards, and although the accident was not caused by any damage to the vessel, the report nevertheless recommended that the stability in a damaged condition of the vessels built before 1980 should be 123W reviewed, and that consideration should be given to the phasing out of those that did not meet, or could not be modified to meet, the 1980 standards.
As the first step in considering this recommendation my Department invited the owners of all United Kingdom registered roll-on roll-off passenger vessels built before 1980 to submit to the Department calculations of the vessels' stability in a damaged condition to establish whether or not they complied with the 1980 standards, and if not to consider the scope for modifications to the vessels, or for changes to their methods of operation to ensure that they did comply.
124WThis exercise is now complete. In all 72 vessels were examined. Of those it was found that 55 already complied with the 1980 standards. Of the remainder, the majority are being voluntarily adapted by their operating companies to comply with the 1980 standards by means of physical modifications and/or changes in operating procedures. My inquiries of the companies indicate that they are unlikely to retain the small number of remaining vessels, where modification is not a realistic proposition, for more than about another three years.
It is important to recognise that all operating British ferries, in whatever category they fall, fully comply with the relevant national and international regulations.