Argyll Ferries have issued the following statement on the improvement notice issued to it by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on arrangements for casualty recovery.
‘Argyll Ferries Managers and Transport Scotland officials met with the MCA yesterday (July 10) to clarify certain aspects of an improvement notice issued in respect of the exemption certificate to carry a rescue boat.
‘During the discussion the MCA confirmed to us that they were satisfied with MV Ali Cat and its operation as a passenger ferry on the Gourock- Dunoon route. The MCA said the vessel was fit for the purpose for which it was being used and was operated to a good standard.
”The MV Ali Cat and her crews have operated safely on the Gourock Dunoon route since 2002 and have extended that record of safe operation since becoming directly managed by Argyll Ferries Limited in June 2012.
‘The Improvement Notice applies only to an additional certificate (Exemption Certificate) to the vessels main operating license, which permits the vessel to operate without a rescue boat, subject to certain conditions being met.
‘This is a normal arrangement in small passenger ferries where it is practical to recover anyone in the water directly on to the ferry.
‘The MCA did not find any operational deficiencies with the capability of the vessel and crew to identify and recover a ‘casualty’ but have required administrative improvements through the issue of an Improvement Notice.
‘Argyll Ferries wishes to stress that the Exemption Certificate for the MV Ali Cat referred to above – and which has been the subject of some misleading and damaging speculation, has no bearing on her suitability or ability to sail in bad weather.
‘The MCA have confirmed that ultimately it is for the boat-master to make a professional judgment, taking into account all factors including current and forecast weather, as to whether conditions are ‘favourable’ and thereby decide if he should sail or not.
‘The Exemption Certificate solely relates to the operation of the MV Ali Cat without a rescue boat and the robustness of the arrangements for her crew to retrieve casualties from the water in the event of an incident.
‘Argyll Ferries Ltd. puts safety at the top of its priorities and takes the Notice in relation to the Exemption Certificate very seriously. All requested measures are being taken forward.
‘Customers can therefore be assured that she is operating safely and in accordance with all relevant MCA requirements and the Scottish Government contract.’
An interestng statement, however should be read in conjunction wit the statement issued by the MCA also issued today which I think not only adds clarity but perhaps fills the gaps. I hope this is helpful.
The MCA stabtement reads
There is considerable media and public interest in the operation of the ALI CAT. I thought it would be appropriate to provide clarity on the subject of her certification.
The ALI CAT operated by Argyll Ferries Ltd offers a passenger only service between Gourock and Dunoon in the Firth of Clyde. The ALI CAT has been surveyed and issued with a Class IV Passenger Certificate as required for the geographical area in which she is operated.
A Class IV Passenger Ship of the ALI CAT vintage is required to carry a rescue boat. The boat serves the purpose of recovering person/s from the water eg in a man over board situation.
Due to the small size and design of the ALI CAT and consequent impracticality of fitting a rescue boat on board, the ALI CAT has been exempted from the requirement to carry a rescue boat, subject to the condition that the vessel will be operated only in ‘favourable weather’, which by statutory definition means “fine, clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”. It is expected that this operational condition would facilitate recovery of man overboard in a situation where the vessel would have to act as its own rescue boat. The imposed operational condition does not imply that the ALI CAT is in any other way non-compliant with applicable legislation, or unsafe or illegal to operate as a Class IV Passenger Ship on the Gourock – Dunoon service.
Moreover, if the ALI CAT was indeed fitted with a rescue boat on board, then, as with any other Class IV Passenger Ship, eg the “ARGYLL FLYER” which operates on the same route, the ALI CAT would not be subject to the ‘favourable weather’ operating restriction.”
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Do you have a link to the MCA statement, I am sure it is there I just cannot find it.
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This is beginning to smell. Failure to observe routine administrative procedures sounds innocuous but all these procedures have a purpose.
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The Argyll Ferries statement is being a bit misleading.
It says the Master must judge if conditions are “favourable”.
However the MCA statement says “favourable” means by statute “fine, clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”.
As a result the the Master is required to judge if conditions are “fine, clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”.
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Sounds iffy…
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Argyll Ferries are telling the truth but not the whole truth. Reading their statement again I am a bit dizzy from the spin.
The AliCat ran alongside the streakers from 2002 till 2011. She sailed less than a handful of times per day and frequently had to cancel due to the weather.
Early in this period there was an incident, to which there were several witnesses including an army major, where a woman claimed she and her child narrowly avoided being killed. Following that event Argyll and Bute council banned the AliCat from using Dunoon pier if waves exceeded 0.5m.(1’7” in old money, so quite small). Nobody actually got killed so in that sense the service was operated safely.
It is the case that the AliCat has the ‘ability’ to operate in waves upto 2.0m. However it is highly questionable that she is ‘suitable’ for carrying members of the general public in such conditions, and the reality is that the skippers do stop operating well short of such conditions.
Argyll Ferries are correct when the they say the Exemption Certificate “permits the vessel to operate without a rescue boat, subject to certain conditions being met.”. However that also means she is not permitted to operate unless she does meet the conditions. One of those conditions is that she can only operate in ‘favourable weather’, and just so that there is no doubt the certificate states that favourable weather is “fine clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”.
When Argyll Ferries state “it is for the boat-master to make a professional judgment, taking into account all factors including current and forecast weather, as to whether conditions are ‘favourable’ and thereby decide if he should sail or not” they correct but are being a bit misleading as the boat-master is having to decide whether or not conditions are “fine clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”.
You will note that Argyll Ferries say that they will comply with all the measures requested by the MCA but do not actually tell us what they are.
It seems crazy that anybody would choose the AliCat to run a frequent service on this route given her history of cancellations and the restrictions she should be operating under. There is a strong feeling locally that the new service has been designed to fail. CalMac have distanced themselves from it by running it via a subsidiary Argyll Ferries.
The crew of the AliCat are excellent, professional, helpful and friendly but they have been given a totally unsuitable vessel with which to run a frequent, reliable service on the Firth of Clyde for the general public.
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Thats sounds like waffle to me ferryman! Of course the boat master (Captain) makes the decision wether the vessel sails or not. Thats part of his responsibility. Do you feel that the Boatmaster is incapable of making a decision over weather conditions? Or do you suggest someone else make the decision for him?
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The boat-master is responsible for ensuring that he can put to sea whilst remaining within the Law. There are many rules and regulations with which he must comply, he has no choice in the matter.
In this case, based on the MCA statement quoted above, one statutory requirement is that the sea conditions are “fine clear settled weather with a sea state such as to cause only moderate rolling and/or pitching”. The boat-master makes the decision, but if in his professional view these conditions are not being met then he should not put to sea.
It is being reported that the boat-masters told the MCA they were unaware of the condition, which is strange, but no doubt prefereable to saying they were ignoring it.
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An article in the Observer indicates that CalMac have never in their history had an improvement notice served on them before.
In the article the MCA ar quoted as saying;
“In summary our findings are that some of the boat-masters were indeed not fully aware of the ‘favourable weather’ condition as endorsed on the Rescue Boat Exemption document”.
The MCA also stated;
“This enforcement action should reduce the possibility of any operation being undertaken outside of the ‘favourable weather’ condition”.
There are three important points here; It is very surprising that the boat-masters did not know of the restriction on the boat they were responsible for. The MCA are describing this as an “enforcement action”, which sounds considerably more serious than Argyll Ferries implication that they just need to tidy up their paperwork. The MCA explicitly mention the favourable weather ‘condition’, and the condition is “fine, clear, settled weather with a sea state such as to cause no more than moderate rolling and/or pitching”.
Why was a bathtub with such a restriction chosen to operate a frequent ferry service year round on the Firth of Clyde?
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The MSP has woken up. He is throwing back former statements made by the MD of Calmac about how the passenger service performed well in atrocious weather as being a tad inconsistent with abiding by legal requirements only to sail in fine clear settled weather.
Those that live by spin die by spin.
Those that use the bathtubs know that the reality is the bathtubs performed badly, having to cancel when other services ran to timetable, but even so were having to break the rules.
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