FINDINGS OF CONSULTATION FOR MARINE GUIDANCE ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES ONBOARD PASSENGER RO-RO FERRIES RELEASED BY MCA
The UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out a public consultation on its proposed draft Marine Guidance into electric vehicles (EVs) onboard passenger Ro-Ro ferries, which ran from 25 October to 20 December 2021.
The proposal contained guidance on what is seen as a minimum standard required for the provision of charging systems for EVs on board Ro-Ro vessels. The guidance, as it was originally conceived, was to act as a minimum standard for vessels offering charging facilities, but during its development and in response to pre-consultation feedback, additional advice was added on damaged vehicle carriage (accident recovery, particularly from Islands) and fire-fighting provision for EVs.
The guidance was intended as a technical minimum standard should an operator chose to offer charging of EVs onboard, not as an endorsement of charging or to encourage vessel operators to offer charging facilities onboard.
The minimum safety standard required for charging of EVs will remain in the guidance. Whilst there are no UK- flag vessels currently offering charging that the MCA is aware of, there are foreign flag vessels that serve UK ports that offer charging of EVs onboard.
The proposed guidance that operators keep a record of charging operations has been reviewed and will be removed from the revised MGN.
Read the full article at
https://bit.ly/37a2vfX.
RNLI FOWEY FINDS OVER 50% OF FLOTATION DEVICES FAULTY OR CONDEMNED AT A RECENT LIFEJACKET CLINIC
This story, alarmingly, is not the first of its kind to reach IIMS. A similar lifejacket clinic at Eastbourne a couple of years ago also revealed a high level of defective flotation devices, some with serious flaws. But is seems the public is not listening and learning.
A recent lifejacket clinic organised by Fowey RNLI found an astonishing 50% were faulty or condemned. The lifejacket clinic invited a team from Ocean Safety Ltd in Plymouth to carry out vital safety checks on a total of 169 lifejackets.
Photo credit: RNLI
Over 50 per cent needed a critical safety part replacing, Fowey RNLI says, meaning if they had been used in an emergency they may not have worked and could potentially have caused loss of life. Eleven lifejackets were condemned outright as being unfit for use. A further 51 needed new capsules, and 26 required replacement cylinders, both of which are critical elements in a fully functioning lifejacket.
Fowey RNLI Lifeboat station operations manager, Chris Ogg says it is extremely important to have lifejackets or any personal floatation devices regularly checked and serviced.
“Your lifejacket may save your life one day, but only if you maintain it properly,” he says. “If a lifejacket is faulty, you are basically wearing a dead weight around your neck. People brought along a variety of lifejackets to be checked and it was eye-opening to see the terrible condition of some of them. One was so badly damaged inside, the material disintegrated when it was unpacked. Quite a few had heavily corroded CO2 bottles, out-of-date parts and damaged areas of material, meaning that they would have failed to inflate in an emergency.”
“Many people don’t appreciate that fabric is significantly affected by saltwater,” says Ogg. “If lifejackets have been stored in damp conditions, for example on boats, critical elements such as the salt tablets used to trigger the inflation will absorb moisture. Defects can be revealed by them being regularly opened and inspected, and through manual inflation. We hope this vital water safety message reaches everyone who uses lifejackets, especially as the 2022 sailing and boating season gets underway.”
The Report • June 2022 • Issue 100 | 17
UK Marine News
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