HC Deb 02 June 1992 vol 208 c516W
Mr. Barry Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the main requirements of his inspectors for flagging in, broken down into numbers per year by vessel type.

Mr. Norris

Surveyors from the Department examine all aspects of safety and marine pollution of any ship which intends to flag on to the United Kingdom register.

The major items inspected include lifesaving appliances, fire appliances, navigation equipment, radio equipment, crew accommodation, stability characteristics, marine pollution control and monitoring equipment and manning levels.

The table shows the number of vessels flagged in for the years 1987–88 to 1991–92. All the foregoing items would be inspected on all these ships.

Ships flagging in numbers per year by vessel type
Year 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991
Passenger1 3 3
Tanker 10 3 6 4 2
Cargo ship1 10 10 10 12 4
Dry bulk carrier 1 6 5 4
Others 13 14 25 15 11
1 Including roll-on/roll-off.

Mr. Barry Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the average cost of a vessel flagging into the United Kingdom register for each of the last five years expressed as(a) per vessel and (b) per tonne.

Mr. Norris

The only costs available to the Department are those charged directly to the owners for the attendance of the surveyors. The average costs for these surveyors for the last five years are as follows.

Year Average cost per vessel £ Cost gross registered ton £
1987–88 3,409 0.49
1988–89 2,754 1.16
1989–90 2.386 0.65
1990–91 4,297 1.45
1991–92 4,619 1.50

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