§ Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many foreign flag vessels were inspected by the Maritime Coastguard Agency in each of the last five years. [114836]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) has inspected the following numbers of foreign flag vessels in each of the last five years.
Year Number of foreign flagged vessels inspected under Port State Control 1998–99 1,980 1999–2000 1,801 2000–01 1,803 2001–02 1,765 2002–03 1,744
§ Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the criteria will be for inspecting foreign flag vessels in UK ports when the port state control directive comes into force. [114837]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe UK will inspect foreign flag vessels in UK ports according to the criteria set out in the new Article 7 of EU Directive 2001/106/EC which comes into force on 22 July 2003. High risk ships posing the greatest threat to the safety of crew and passengers and to the environment will be targeted for inspection.
The target factor is determined by ship type, Flag, Classification Society, ship age, and previous inspection record. High risk ships, based on type and age, such as oil tankers over 15 years of age with a high target factor, will have a mandatory expanded inspection every 12 months. Any ship with a very high target factor and one month since last inspection will also have a mandatory inspection.