The Secretariat of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region has announced that Vietnam could be blacklisted due to low-quality of its vessels and a high number of detained vessels overseas.

Vietnamese vessels might be blacklisted

In the first quarter, 4.6% of 214 vessels inspected for maritime safety and pollution prevention was detained overseas. 

This rate was 4% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2015. Most of the detained vessels were unfit for service or lacking life-saving, fire safety equipment.

The detained vessels are generally cargo ships that have been in use for five to ten years. They are mostly detained in South East Asian countries. 

They were built in Vietnam and belong to small shipping companies but there are also a few of them are operated by reputable companies.

According to the Vietnam Register, Vietnam has about 462 vessels over 50 gross tonnages operating on international routes. 

The Vietnam Register also said the vessels were detained because the owners had failed to pay enough attention to the crew's operation skills.

Vietnam had been on the blacklist before and the Vietnamese vessels became the usual target for strict inspections, causing difficulties to the firms. 

Many ship owners asked to be bailed out to upgrade their vessels.

Vietnam was added to a white list in 2015 after the number of detained vessels decreased.

The Ministry of Transport asked Vietnam Maritime Administration, Vietnam Register and international shipping companies to have solutions to deal with the situation.

If the number of detained vessels is not reduced in the second quarter, the ministry will implement strict measures such as carrying out a thorough inspection of all ships leaving port and licenses of vessels that are detained three times in 12 months.

dtinews