Port State Control Branch News

Containership Lowlands Kamsar has been detained by U.S. Coast Guard personnel in Seattle, Monday, after a Port State Control exam detected several safety violations. The Lowlands Kamsar a 751-foot, Panamanian-flagged ship will remain in Sector Puget Sound's Captain of the Port zone until the violations are corrected, the Coast Guard said. During the exam Coast Guard Port State Control officers discovered that the automatic fire extinguishing system that protects the vessel’s engine room had been disabled by the crew, additionally, the vessel’s owner, Misuga S.A., failed to ensure that appropriate corrective action was taken. The crew of the ship was conducting cargo operations in Seattle at the time of the exam. Lt.

Port State Control officers from U.S. Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound detained the container ship MOL Precision in Seattle, Thursday after discovering several significant violations during a port state control exam of the Panamanian-flagged ship, which will remain in Sector Puget Sound's Captain of the Port zone until the violations are corrected. The coast guard said violations included defective oil bilge line filtering equipment, missing security training records and not sending required ballast tank information to the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse prior to entering a U.S. port. The 962-foot containership MOL Precision’s oil bilge line filtering equipment had a nonfunctional alarm and intermittently operating meter…

The U.S. Coast Guard said it detained the 579-foot motor vessel  Strategic Synergy, Tuesday, requiring the vessel to remain in Portland until numerous safety violations are corrected by the ship’s crew. The Strategic Synergy, owned by SBC Synergy PTE. LTD., intends to load grain in Portland and will depart for Ecuador after the safety violations have been met. Port State Control Officers from the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit in Portland discovered the discrepancies during a routine inspection of the newly constructed Singapore-flagged vessel. Strategic Synergy’s voyage to the United States was its maiden voyage after completing construction in China on April 23, 2014.

The Coast Guard has since Sunday taken action in three unrelated marine safety cases, which has protected the environment, protected mariners and protected the maritime transportation system in the port of Portland, Oregon. Sector Columbia River’s recent activity began around 11 a.m. Sunday with notification from the 648-foot car carrier Morning Spruce of the vessel’s loss of engine power while 12 miles southwest of the Columbia River bar, leaving the vessel adrift in 12-foot seas. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port issued an order directing the owner of the Morning Spruce to immediately contract for tow vessels to hold the ship offshore. In addition to its cargo, the Morning Spruce was reportedly carrying a combined 543,000 gallons of heavy oil, diesel and lube oil.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Portland, Ore., conducted Operation Clean River, a large-scale operation to ensure environmental compliance onboard commercial deep draft vessels, Wednesday, Jan. 19. Clean River covered both the Columbia and Willamette Rivers in an effort to examine all vessels that were currently moored or anchored from Portland downriver to Longview, Wash. Specifically, the Coast Guard’s Port State Control Branch verified vessel compliance with both international and domestic regulations found in MARPOL 73/78 and 33 CFR 151, 155 and 157, respectively. MARPOL 73/78 is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and is one of the most important international marine environmental regulations designed to minimize pollution of the seas…