200451 Locked Doors

Locked Doors
MARS Report 200451

I am writing to you concerning the ISPS code and the problems we are finding at an oil terminal in the USA. I am presently the Senior Pilot/Training Captain in the area. The main point I am finding is that tankers are loading and discharging with all accommodation doors bar one locked, chained, bolted and padlocked etc, in one case the keys to the padlocks being kept in the Cargo Control room.

After experiencing several fires etc on tankers in my career I am appalled at the shipping company, and Masters for ignoring basic safety. Locked doors on a tanker mean horrific accidents should a fire or explosion occur. When we have requested open doors for safety reasons, we are told that it is company policy and they must comply and that doors will remain locked. On the last 20 vessels which I have handled, only one Master was prepared to ignore his company's instructions.

Readers' Feedback

1. I was surprised to read the report of the USA based pilot, as I am of the opinion that pilots in the USA must have noticed the stringent rules applied to cargo ships by their own US Coastguard. As a Chief officer, working on cargo ships that bring me regularly to the USA, I fully agree with the pilot writing the said report, stating it is dangerous to bolt all doors closed except one. I sail on a general cargo vessel but having experienced an accommodation fire, I find that also for our ships, having all door's locked and bolted to be an unsafe idea.

This is not demanded by shipping companies but by the ISPS Code and by the US Coastguard in particular. On various occasions Coastguard officials have tried to board the vessel with false papers or by illegal means, going so far as to step onto forklifts and driving unseen onboard our Ro-Ro vessel. One of their main points is to check all doors. They do this extremely thoroughly. If a door is found unlocked, the ship is detained, this almost happened to my ship. Only extreme diplomacy was able to stop this. Therefore, I find it unfair of the pilot to place this problem with the captains of the vessels. The master is put between two problems. Close the doors and take the risks for granted or leave them open as suggested by the pilot and risk being detained by the Coastguard. If the pilot really thinks this risk is a big problem, I suggest contacting his local US-coastguard commander and pleading with him for change. If enough people do this, then maybe we can change the ships back to ships again, in stead of the "prisons" they are rapidly becoming.

2. It is not clear who the writer of this report is. I am the CSO of our company and there is NO doubt in my mind and I hope in that of the Masters and SSOs of our fleet that Safety ALWAYS takes priority over Security. This principle has been explicitly stated in our Ship Security Plans.

As regards locking doors, the principle is that no door on an escape route is to be locked by any means which prevent it from being opened from the inside without a key. Where necessary we have fitted latches and bars to prevent access from the outside but do not hinder movement from inside the accommodation to the outside.