British Officials Detain Cruise Ship for Safety Violations

 

Vistamar in Turkey in 2008 from Shipspotting.com

Interesting story developing in the U.K. Officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have detained the cruise ship, Vistamar, in the Port of Belfast and are not permitting her to leave until safety issues are worked out. The 209-pax ship sailed into the Northern Ireland port yesterday morning. Upon docking, the 396 ft ship was boarded by surveyors from the agency to carry out safety inspections. This practice is fairly common even in U.S. ports with foreign flagged cruise ships.

What isn’t common is a ship flunking these tests. Safety onboard is the highest priority of the officers and crew. The German owned vessel is said to have had the following faults:

• A lifeboat’s engine failed to start
• Damage to a lifeboat
• Missing evacuation signs
• Conditions of firedoors were deplorable, including:
  • Broken
  • Latches missing
  • or just simply not present
• Broken lights on life rafts
• Failure to comply with International Safety Management standards

The surveyors are not allowing guests back on as she poses a threat to their safety. The displaced guests were taken to local accommodations in Belfast. Reports are that she will be up to code and sail out on Friday.

Here is what the Surveyor in Charge, Bill Bennett, stated:

"The MCA take passenger safety extremely seriously, and we will not allow vessels to traverse our waters where clearly international standards of safety are being breached. We apologize to any passengers who may have been inconvenienced by this action, but we hope they understand this detention has been undertaken in their best interest."