The Red Rover is a general cargo ship and was built in 1997. Image credit Malte Schwarz.
PT Meratus Line are being sent straight to the principals office by The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) after not meeting international safety and/or environmental regulations for the third time.
On Saturday, 31st January, PT Meratus Line’s container ship, the Red Rover, was reviewed by Australian Maritime Inspectors and was found to lack effective passage planning and was failing to use appropriate charts and publications.
There has been two vessels previously banned by AMSA for three months each. The Territory Trader in November last year and then the MV Meratus Sangatta in early January 2015. These vessels were also shut out of Australia for the same reasons as the Red Rover.
The Territory Trader is also a general cargo ship, built in 1991. Image credit – Robert Schot
The Meratus Sangatta is a general cargo ship built in 1996 – Image credit
The AMSA are now taking a stand against Indonesian owned PT Meratus Line, making an example of the Red Rover by banning the container ship from Australia for a full year. This is the first time ever that a vessel has been banned for this period of time.
Here is Mick Kinley, CEO of the AMSA commenting on the shut out :
The unsafe operation of vessels poses an unacceptable risk to seafarers and the environment and AMSA treats any breaches of international shipping standards with the greatest of seriousness. A lack of effective passage planning is extremely unsafe, particularly in areas like the Western Australia coastline. Like the Great Barrier Reef, this coastline has environmentally sensitive areas such as Ningaloo Reef and Houtman Abrolhos Islands, with Ningaloo Reef containing International Maritime Organization endorsed ‘Area to be Avoided’ ship routing measures.
The PT Meratus Line has shown a disregard for international standards through repeated breaches and all ships operated by this company are now subject to inspections at every port call.
