§ Mr. Clifford ForsytheTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what monitoring is conducted to ensure that all passenger and freight ships operate a single designated working language on ships sailing between British ports. [21747]
§ Mr. NorrisThe Marine Safety Agency has a target to inspect every UK and foreign passenger ferry at least twice annually. Foreign and UK cargo ships are also inspected regularly either under the port state control regime or under the Marine Safety Agency inspection programme for UK seagoing ships. Communication among crew members is monitored as part of these inspections.
Emergency and abandon ship drills can also be witnessed during inspections so providing an opportunity to test the ability of key crew members to communicate with each other and with passengers in an emergency. The Marine Safety Agency also has a special programme of concentrated inspections on ferries which involves a team of two or three surveyors making a voyage on the ferry, initially incognito, and focusing on the safe operation of the ferry.