AMSA warns: Watertight and weathertight integrity remains persistent and concerning issue!

Port State Control inspection data shows that watertight and weathertight integrity remains a persistent and concerning issue for vessels in Australian waters, making up 9% of detainable deficiencies in 2021, warns Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on its website.

These deficiencies often reflect a failure of the planned maintenance program to specifically address watertight and weathertight integrity issues in areas such as watertight doors, cargo hatches and hatchways, ballast tanks and cargo hold venting and overboard sea water valves.

The risk of being detected and detained by AMSA — even banned from Australian ports — for serious breaches of international conventions, is a very real one with significant financial and reputational costs to operators.

Watertight and weathertight components are exposed to wear and tear over time. Routine checks will help pick up maintenance issues before they become a problem, and avoid potential consequences such as injury, loss of life, technical specialist and equipment costs, dry docking, or even lawsuits over environmental damage.

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