§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the nationality of the officers and of the crews of the ships chartered for the transport of British personnel and vehicles to former Yugoslavia since the current wars began; whether any of the ships were sailing under flags of convenience; whether they are content with the fact that no British flag merchant ships have been appropriately priced for chartering, and what steps they are taking to ensure that in future a sufficiency of British-flagged, owned, and crewed ships are always available, at suitable cost, to the Ministry of Defence.
Viscount CranborneDetails of the vessels chartered to date for the movement of equipment to Bosnia-Herzegovina are as follows: 101WA
Ship Flag Operator Officers Crew "Bassro Star" Norway Int Norwegian Croatian Croatian "Maersk Kent" Bahamas Danish British Spanish "Via Tirreno" Italy Italian Italian Italian "Maria J" Germany German German/Philippine Philippine "Rosa Dan" Denmark Danish Danish Philippine "Rheiderland" Germany German German Philippine "Belvaux" Luxemburg Belgium Belgian Philippine "Mercandian. Duke" Denmark Denmark Danish Danish "Nornews Service" Norway Norwegian Norwegian/Sri Lankan/Indonesian Indian "Santa Maria" Germany German German German "Sea Bird" Denmark Int Danish Danish Philippine "Sophie" Denmark Danish Danish/St Vincent St Vincent/Salvador "Arroyofrio Dos" Spanish Spanish Spanish Spanish The ultimate ownership of these vessels is not generally known to my department as the charter is with the operator, who is not necessarily the owner. We would of course prefer to charter British-flagged vessels where competitive, but there is no overriding operational requirement to do so. Our experience is that few British companies put ships forward, mainly because British vessels are committed to existing commercial charters.
A review in 1992 of the availability of merchant vessels concluded that there were still sufficient vessels on the British registers for defence purposes and that no special measures were required. A recent review of the availability of British crews to man those vessels has concluded that the number of British seafarers in the British shipping industry is hugely in excess of the numbers we would require, even on the most cautious assumptions.