[BITList] Volatile cargoes found in our midst - The Australian

[John Feltham]

Volatile cargoes found in our midst. 

A consistent, nationwide approach is required to manage maritime security.

By SAM BATEMAN ANTH0NY BERGIN 

Australia is a major shipping nation with a large stake in the protection and preservation of the marine environment in adjacent oceans and seas. Because of our dependence on bulk carriers to export minerals and other bulk cargoes, we're particularly concerned about this class of vessel. 

A potentially highly explosive targo aboard a poor quality ship is a dangerous-combination, posing significant risks of a disastrous accident. This might be the situation now off Newcastle where the Maltese flagged general cargo ship MCP Kopenhagen is anchored with 3000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate onboard because the chemical company Orica cannot store it on land. 

Inspectors from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority have inspected the ship under the international port state control regime. That regime aims to ensure international standards of safety and security are maintained. 

It's understood they found eight separate deficiencies, including faulty fire safety systems and broken navigational systems and radio. Maritime Union officials have also inspected the ship and found deplorable working conditions for the crew. 

While no separate defect was serious enough to warrant the ship being detained in port, the faulty fire systems onboard a ship carrying a dangerous cargo should have been of serious concern. 

In April 1947, the French merchant ship Grandcamp was in the port of Texas City in the US with 2300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate onboard. A fire led to the detonation of the cargo and a series of massive explosions causing nearly 600 deaths, 

It's open to question whether the MCP Kopenhagen should have been granted approval to carry such a dangerous cargo into an Australian port, or indeed whether it should have even been considered for such a cargo in the first place. 

While the MCP Kopenhagen, having been built in 2007, is not particularly old, there were danger signals of a substandard ship. Previous port state control inspections had regularly found defects onboard. 

She was registered in Malta, which is on the "Grey List" of flags listed by the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control as being potentially at. higher risk of serious equipment and personnel defects. 

Perhaps more ominously, the MCP Kopenhageri was only reflaggedto Malta in February last year from The. Netherlands flag, a highly reputable flag that requires strict observance of safety standards by ships flying it, unlike the Maltese flag, by its international reputation. 

The MCP Kopenhagen is also a general cargo vessel, a class thatfigures disproportionately in shipping losses and fatal accidents. One of the reasons for this is that general cargo vessels, unlike oil tankers and bulk carriers, are not subject to industry inspection in addition to their flag state, classification society and port state inspections. Industry vetting regimes were established to allow cargo owners and ship charterers to assess whether a ship was suitable and safe for its purpose. 

A consistent, nationwide approach is required to manage the security of high -risk ships, particularly those carrying highconsequence dangerous goods. This approach must include effective vetting and inspection arrangements for ships carrying dangerous cargoes in and out of Australian ports. 

Sam Bateman and Anthony Bergin are the co-authors of Future Unknown: The Terrorist Threat to Australian Maritime Security, published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.