May-Jun 2008

Ships of Shame

Inside a Ship of Shame

Rustbuckets, coffin ships, casino ships, Ships of Shame. These are just some of the names that describe the growing fleet of Flag of Convenience vessels polluting our oceans and threatening our coastline – ships that make up only one in five of the world's fleet, but account for more than half of the worldwide ship losses and marine pollution.

The alarming and shocking exhibition (below) shows the condition of some of the ships operating today. The owners of ships like these know they are dangerous and yet still allow them to go to sea.

Some common problems with substandard shipping are: corroded ladders, ship's cranes, winches, anchor cables, damaged or corroded ballasts, cracked holds, defective fire fighting and life saving equipment, defective radio equipment and malfunctioning machinery.

Even if the ship is seaworthy, if living conditions are hazardous to health or safety the ship is substandard. Common examples of this are blocked drains and toilets and vermin infested galleys.

Ships of Shame Report: Senate Inquiry

A parliamentary report into substandard ships trading out of Australia (Ships of Shame: Inquiry into ship safety - Report from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport, Communications and Infrastructure, December, 1992) exposed

the operation of unseaworthy ships
the use of poorly trained crews
crews with false qualification papers etc

FOC ships fly the flags of other nations because they are cheap - low registration costs, low (or no) taxes, poor standards and cheap crews. About one-fifth of the world's 83,000 ships fly a flag of convenience, but FOC shipping represents more than half of worldwide ship losses.

Hundreds seafarers have lost their lives on board FOC ships in the past years. Full statistics are collected by the insurance industry on the tonnage and value of ships lost. No records are kept of those who lose their lives.

Casualty rates among FOCs are the worst in the world. Six out of the 10 worst flags in terms of vessels lost (whether measured in absolute numbers of ships, tonnage or percentage of the fleet) are FOCs. Hundreds of seafarers lost their lives on FOC ships last year. FOC vessels are responsible for the majority of major shipping collisions and for a disproportionate volume of maritime pollution.

There have now been 3 parliamentary inquiries into Ships of Shame, the last reporting in September, 1988. See Parliament inquiry webpage & read on...

Ships of Shame

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