The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has banned bulk carrier Babuza Wisdom (IMO 9524815) for 90 days for a number of deficiencies, including a defective rescue boat engine. The Babuza Wisdom is operated Well Shipmanagment & Maritime Consultant Co Ltd, which has experienced a number of detentions in Australian waters in recent years.
AMSA said that, as a result of the operator’s poor performing history and repeated warnings from AMSA over other ships in its fleet, Babuza Wisdom was considered to be a high-risk ship and was therefore scheduled for an inspection by AMSA in Geelong on May 17th.
That inspection revealed a defective rescue boat engine, defective reserve batteries for MF and HF radio systems and systemic maintenance and reporting failures within the implemented safety management system onboard.
AMSA deemed the vessel to be “a significant risk to safety and the environment”, and detained it immediately.
AMSA Executive Director of Operations Michael Drake said a defective rescue boat engine critically compromised the ship’s ability to respond to an emergency like a person overboard event. “That alone would have been cause for a detention,” he said, adding that “compounding this was the defective reserve batteries for MF and HF radio systems, which meant that the ship had no radio back-up if it lost main engine power, which was a feasible scenario, given its maintenance and reporting failures.”
AMSA said that a review of regulatory interactions with other ships operated by Well Shipmanagement & Maritime Consultant Co Ltd over the past three years had identified significant systemic failings and a trend of unacceptable performance of ships operated by the company.
“We have repeatedly warned Well Shipmanagement & Maritime Consultant Company Ltd to ensure its ships meet the minimum international standards, and yet what we have seen is continued systemic failings which place the safety of seafarers and our environment at unacceptable risk. That is why we have taken the step to ban Babuza Wisdom from Australian waters for 90 days, which will send an even clearer message to the operator about the gravity in which we regard our role as a safety regulator, and our zero-tolerance approach to sub-standard ships”, Mr Drake said.
2009-built, Panama-flagged, 11,666 gt Babuza Wisdom is owned by Babuza Wisdom SA care of manager Wisdom Marine Lines SA od Taipei, Taiwan. ISM manager is Well Shipmanagement & Maritime of Taipei, Taiwan. It is entered with Skuld (Skuld Hong Kong) on behalf of Wisdome Marine Lines SA.
As of June 1st the vessel was moored at Newcastle, New South Wales.