P&O Ferries: Inspections

(asked on 16th May 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support ferries as a strategic link with (a) the UK's trading partners as part of the Global Britain policy and (b) Northern Ireland to support the Union; whether the Government instructed the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to increase and intensify inspections of P&O Ferries' ships after the termination of 800 employees by that company and at what cost to the public purse; whether the MCA applied appropriate UK standards with respect to inspections of P&O Ferries' ships that were detained, specifically the European Causeway and the Pride of Kent; what effect MCA inspections had on ferry availability to the public and the transport industry; and what effect MCA inspections had on waiting times for those ferries.


Answered by
Robert Courts Portrait
Robert Courts
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This question was answered on 20th May 2022

Maritime 2050 sets out the government and industry's joint vision for the future of the UK’s maritime sector. In delivering this vision, we will support the sector to fulfil its role in helping the UK to build back better and to level up across regions. The ferry industry has a key part to play in this.

The safety of the travelling public is our top priority. Owing to the unprecedented actions of P&O Ferries and considering the significant number of UK travelling public who use these services, the Secretary of State instructed the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to carry out Port State Control inspections on the affected ferries, particularly owing to the large numbers of new crew that would be on board.

Three of the ships inspected, out of the seven looked at so far, were detained. The costs involved in respect of the detained vessels is recovered from the operator (at £147/hour). Port State Control inspections which do not result in the vessel being detained are not cost recoverable. All the affected vessels have been subject to Port State Control inspections as per the requirements of Paris Memorandum of Understanding to which the UK is signatory. This provides the processes and procedures that should be followed to ensure compliance with all international requirements concerning safety and seafarers working and living conditions.

The MCA’s role, as the Port State in this case, is to ensure that the vessels are meeting the necessary requirements in relation to safety and seafarers working and living conditions. P&O Ferries notified the MCA when their vessels were ready for inspection. Three of those vessels did not meet the requirements and were stopped from operating owing to safety concerns and this must take precedence over the availability of ferries. Following MCA inspections, P&O Ferries were responsible for deciding when their vessels would commence service.

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