Shanghai MSA announcement on ‘Strengthening the Safety Management of Ships with Machinery Failure’

The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) has announced that from 1 July 2022, and effective over two years, they are going to implement stringent requirements on ships with machinery failure to ensure the navigational safety of ships entering and leaving Shanghai port.

As per the attached circular from the club’s local correspondent in China (Huatai Marine), ‘machinery failure’ refers to a state when a ship is restricted in her ability to manoeuvre due to the failure of machinery or its auxiliary system during the voyage or in the process of berthing/unberthing. It does not include difficulty in power output or steering gear arising from external factors such as grounding, entangled by fishing nets, etc.

Ships with machinery failure are required to report to the MSA Command Center:

• verbally, at the time of incident;
• submit written report, once the ship is in a stable and safe condition; and
• for ships holding Safety Management Certificate (SMC), apart from incident investigation and formulating corrective measures, carry out a review of safety management system (SMS) and submit this report to MSA. Non-ISM ships are required to submit a statement of cause of the failure and a letter of guarantee for navigational safety.

Failure to report or concealing facts may result in penalties as per Article 110 of the Maritime Traffic Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China.

Ships will be subject to an accident investigation and safety inspection by the MSA if:

1. Machinery failure occurs within traffic lanes and precautionary areas.
2. Machinery failure occurs in waters apart from those stated above, and the repair time exceeds 2 hours.
3. Close quarter situations, accidents caused by machinery failure, which obviously affected traffic safety order under the jurisdiction.
4. Machinery failure occurred twice or above in Shanghai port waters within 12 months.
5. Within 12 months, ships run by the same Owners, Operators or Managers have suffered 3 or more machinery failures in the waters of Shanghai port, and the cumulative number of machinery failures during this period exceeds 10% of the total fleet.

Shanghai MSA will maintain a list of ships that fall into category 4 or 5 (as mentioned above).

Listed ships could be prohibited from entering port or expelled from the port if the defects are not rectified to the satisfaction of Shanghai MSA. Additionally, listed ships will be subject to stricter requirements prior to entering waters under the jurisdiction of the Shanghai MSA.

Members with ships calling at Shanghai port are recommended to take note of the above-mentioned requirements and be guided accordingly.

Category: Loss Prevention