Back
About RSIS
Introduction
Building the Foundations
Welcome Message
Board of Governors
Staff Profiles
Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
Dean’s Office
Management
Distinguished Fellows
Faculty and Research
Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
Visiting Fellows
Adjunct Fellows
Administrative Staff
Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
RSIS Endowment Fund
Endowed Professorships
Career Opportunities
Getting to RSIS
Research
Research Centres
Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
Centre of Excellence for National Security
Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
Research Programmes
National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
Social Cohesion Research Programme (SCRP)
Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
Other Research
Future Issues and Technology Cluster
Research@RSIS
Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
Graduate Education
Graduate Programmes Office
Exchange Partners and Programmes
How to Apply
Financial Assistance
Meet the Admissions Team: Information Sessions and other events
RSIS Alumni
Outreach
Global Networks
About Global Networks
RSIS Alumni
Executive Education
About Executive Education
SRP Executive Programme
Terrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
International Programmes
About International Programmes
Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)
Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)
International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS)
International Strategy Forum-Asia (ISF-Asia)
Publications
RSIS Publications
Annual Reviews
Books
Bulletins and Newsletters
RSIS Commentary Series
Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
Commemorative / Event Reports
Future Issues
IDSS Papers
Interreligious Relations
Monographs
NTS Insight
Policy Reports
Working Papers
External Publications
Authored Books
Journal Articles
Edited Books
Chapters in Edited Books
Policy Reports
Working Papers
Op-Eds
Glossary of Abbreviations
Policy-relevant Articles Given RSIS Award
RSIS Publications for the Year
External Publications for the Year
Media
Cohesive Societies
Sustainable Security
Other Resource Pages
News Releases
Speeches
Video/Audio Channel
External Podcasts
Events
Contact Us
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Think Tank and Graduate School Ponder The Improbable Since 1966
Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University
  • About RSIS
      IntroductionBuilding the FoundationsWelcome MessageBoard of GovernorsHonours and Awards for RSIS Staff and StudentsRSIS Endowment FundEndowed ProfessorshipsCareer OpportunitiesGetting to RSIS
      Staff ProfilesExecutive Deputy Chairman’s OfficeDean’s OfficeManagementDistinguished FellowsFaculty and ResearchAssociate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research AnalystsVisiting FellowsAdjunct FellowsAdministrative Staff
  • Research
      Research CentresCentre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)Centre of Excellence for National SecurityInstitute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      Research ProgrammesNational Security Studies Programme (NSSP)Social Cohesion Research Programme (SCRP)Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      Other ResearchFuture Issues and Technology ClusterResearch@RSISScience and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
  • Graduate Education
      Graduate Programmes OfficeExchange Partners and ProgrammesHow to ApplyFinancial AssistanceMeet the Admissions Team: Information Sessions and other eventsRSIS Alumni
  • Outreach
      Global NetworksAbout Global NetworksRSIS Alumni
      Executive EducationAbout Executive EducationSRP Executive ProgrammeTerrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
      International ProgrammesAbout International ProgrammesAsia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS)International Strategy Forum-Asia (ISF-Asia)
  • Publications
      RSIS PublicationsAnnual ReviewsBooksBulletins and NewslettersRSIS Commentary SeriesCounter Terrorist Trends and AnalysesCommemorative / Event ReportsFuture IssuesIDSS PapersInterreligious RelationsMonographsNTS InsightPolicy ReportsWorking Papers
      External PublicationsAuthored BooksJournal ArticlesEdited BooksChapters in Edited BooksPolicy ReportsWorking PapersOp-Eds
      Glossary of AbbreviationsPolicy-relevant Articles Given RSIS AwardRSIS Publications for the YearExternal Publications for the Year
  • Media
      Cohesive SocietiesSustainable SecurityOther Resource PagesNews ReleasesSpeechesVideo/Audio ChannelExternal Podcasts
  • Events
  • Contact Us
    • Connect with Us

      rsis.ntu
      rsis_ntu
      rsisntu
      rsisvideocast
      school/rsis-ntu
      rsis.sg
      rsissg
      RSIS
      RSS
      Subscribe to RSIS Publications
      Subscribe to RSIS Events

      Getting to RSIS

      Nanyang Technological University
      Block S4, Level B3,
      50 Nanyang Avenue,
      Singapore 639798

      Click here for direction to RSIS

      Get in Touch

    Connect
    Search
    • RSIS
    • Publication
    • RSIS Publications
    • CO11153 | MV Rena: Dealing with Sub-Standard Shipping
    • Annual Reviews
    • Books
    • Bulletins and Newsletters
    • RSIS Commentary Series
    • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
    • Commemorative / Event Reports
    • Future Issues
    • IDSS Papers
    • Interreligious Relations
    • Monographs
    • NTS Insight
    • Policy Reports
    • Working Papers

    CO11153 | MV Rena: Dealing with Sub-Standard Shipping
    Sam Bateman

    24 October 2011

    download pdf

    Synopsis

    The grounding and breaking-up of the container ship Rena off the coast of New Zealand has highlighted the threat to maritime safety and security and the marine environment posed by unsafe shipping.

    Commentary

    AN ENVIRONMENTAL disaster of great proportions is unfolding off the coast of New Zealand. The container ship MV Rena ran aground earlier this month in the Bay of Plenty off the port of Tauranga.on the North Island of New Zealand. The ship is now breaking up, spilling heavy fuel oil and containers into the sea causing massive pollution of the marine environment. It has already devastated the community of one of New Zealand’s leading seaside resorts. The economic costs, including the costs of cleaning up the region’s coastline, will run into many millions of dollars.

    How could a large container ship laden with a valuable cargo, including some toxic and hazardous goods, run aground on a well-charted reef in clear visibility? The answer will likely lie in human failings onboard that throw doubt on the standards of competence and training of contemporary seafarers.

    The Master and Second Officer of the Rena have already appeared in court charged with operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary risk or danger. This incident has become another example of the threat to maritime security and the marine environment posed by unsafe and sub-standard ships.

    The MV RENA

    The Rena is a medium-size container ship built in 1990 and registered in Liberia, a major “flag of convenience” country of registry. There were warning signals that she may have been unsafe and an accident waiting to happen.

    The first warning signal is that of age. At 21 years of age, the Rena was relatively old for a container ship. The annual review of maritime transport from UNCTAD shows that the average age of container ships is ten and a half years. Container ships normally have shorter lives than other types of vessels due to the more demanding nature of their employment with tight schedules and short periods of time in port.

    Ships, like any other piece of equipment, deteriorate over time requiring greater maintenance effort as the years go by to keep them safe and seaworthy. Hence the older a ship is, the more likely it is to be sub-standard.

    Available evidence suggests the Rena was starting to fall below an acceptable standard of maintenance and safe operation. In July 2011, she was detained in the port of Fremantle in Western Australia after a Port State Control (PSC) inspection revealed 17 deficiencies, including several related to the safety of navigation. An inspection in the NZ port of Bluff a few days before the recent accident revealed 19 deficiencies.

    Sub-standard ships

    Sub-standard ships threaten maritime safety and security, as well as the marine environment. Research shows that sub-standard ships are more likely to be successfully attacked by pirates than quality vessels. One-third of all the vessels hijacked by Somali pirates over the last two years were sub-standard by global standards. Sub- standard ships are also more likely to be associated with maritime criminal activities, including fraud and customs offences.

    Sub-standard ships figure disproportionately in maritime accidents. The most serious recent accident off Singapore occurred in May 2010 when the ancient and clearly sub-standard bulk carrier, MV Wally, collided with the Malaysian tanker Bunga Kelan 3 in the eastern part of the strait. Several hundred tonnes of oil spilt into the sea, leading to pollution off Singapore’s eastern foreshore. Not only was the Wally old, but she was also registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a notoriously poor “flag of convenience”.

    Responsibility for ensuring a ship is well maintained and safely operated should rest with the flag state of a vessel. But with the growth of “flags of convenience”, many flag states have proven incapable of discharging this responsibility effectively. Hence PSC has developed as the main international regime to manage the problem of sub-standard ships. Under this regime, port states undertake the task of verifying that ships are complying with required international standards of ship safety, maintenance, manning and marine environmental protection.

    Singapore and PSC

    PSC depends heavily on countries participating in the regime fulfilling their obligations to inspect vessels and on the exchange of inspection data between them. Singapore is a party to the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on PSC that covers the Asia-Pacific region. The latest annual report from this MOU shows that in 2010, Singapore inspected only 5 per cent of visiting foreign ships. The regional average was much higher. This means that Singapore made only a small contribution to achieving the Tokyo MOU’s objective of a regional annual inspection rate of 80% of the total number of ships operating in the region.

    Singapore’s inspection rate was the second lowest in the region – only Vanuatu inspected relatively fewer ships. Furthermore, the data from the MOU’s annual report shows that Singapore inspections found significantly fewer deficiencies per inspection than the regional norm. After being detained in Fremantle in July, the Rena visited Singapore several times but was not inspected here.

    The maintenance of good order at sea requires the promotion of maritime safety and security and the protection of the marine environment. It is in Singapore’s own interests to ensure that sub-standard and unsafe ships do not call at its port.

    About the Author

    Sam Bateman is an adviser to the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is a former Australian naval commodore with research interests in regimes for maritime safety and security. 

    Categories: RSIS Commentary Series / Maritime Security / East Asia and Asia Pacific

    Synopsis

    The grounding and breaking-up of the container ship Rena off the coast of New Zealand has highlighted the threat to maritime safety and security and the marine environment posed by unsafe shipping.

    Commentary

    AN ENVIRONMENTAL disaster of great proportions is unfolding off the coast of New Zealand. The container ship MV Rena ran aground earlier this month in the Bay of Plenty off the port of Tauranga.on the North Island of New Zealand. The ship is now breaking up, spilling heavy fuel oil and containers into the sea causing massive pollution of the marine environment. It has already devastated the community of one of New Zealand’s leading seaside resorts. The economic costs, including the costs of cleaning up the region’s coastline, will run into many millions of dollars.

    How could a large container ship laden with a valuable cargo, including some toxic and hazardous goods, run aground on a well-charted reef in clear visibility? The answer will likely lie in human failings onboard that throw doubt on the standards of competence and training of contemporary seafarers.

    The Master and Second Officer of the Rena have already appeared in court charged with operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary risk or danger. This incident has become another example of the threat to maritime security and the marine environment posed by unsafe and sub-standard ships.

    The MV RENA

    The Rena is a medium-size container ship built in 1990 and registered in Liberia, a major “flag of convenience” country of registry. There were warning signals that she may have been unsafe and an accident waiting to happen.

    The first warning signal is that of age. At 21 years of age, the Rena was relatively old for a container ship. The annual review of maritime transport from UNCTAD shows that the average age of container ships is ten and a half years. Container ships normally have shorter lives than other types of vessels due to the more demanding nature of their employment with tight schedules and short periods of time in port.

    Ships, like any other piece of equipment, deteriorate over time requiring greater maintenance effort as the years go by to keep them safe and seaworthy. Hence the older a ship is, the more likely it is to be sub-standard.

    Available evidence suggests the Rena was starting to fall below an acceptable standard of maintenance and safe operation. In July 2011, she was detained in the port of Fremantle in Western Australia after a Port State Control (PSC) inspection revealed 17 deficiencies, including several related to the safety of navigation. An inspection in the NZ port of Bluff a few days before the recent accident revealed 19 deficiencies.

    Sub-standard ships

    Sub-standard ships threaten maritime safety and security, as well as the marine environment. Research shows that sub-standard ships are more likely to be successfully attacked by pirates than quality vessels. One-third of all the vessels hijacked by Somali pirates over the last two years were sub-standard by global standards. Sub- standard ships are also more likely to be associated with maritime criminal activities, including fraud and customs offences.

    Sub-standard ships figure disproportionately in maritime accidents. The most serious recent accident off Singapore occurred in May 2010 when the ancient and clearly sub-standard bulk carrier, MV Wally, collided with the Malaysian tanker Bunga Kelan 3 in the eastern part of the strait. Several hundred tonnes of oil spilt into the sea, leading to pollution off Singapore’s eastern foreshore. Not only was the Wally old, but she was also registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a notoriously poor “flag of convenience”.

    Responsibility for ensuring a ship is well maintained and safely operated should rest with the flag state of a vessel. But with the growth of “flags of convenience”, many flag states have proven incapable of discharging this responsibility effectively. Hence PSC has developed as the main international regime to manage the problem of sub-standard ships. Under this regime, port states undertake the task of verifying that ships are complying with required international standards of ship safety, maintenance, manning and marine environmental protection.

    Singapore and PSC

    PSC depends heavily on countries participating in the regime fulfilling their obligations to inspect vessels and on the exchange of inspection data between them. Singapore is a party to the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on PSC that covers the Asia-Pacific region. The latest annual report from this MOU shows that in 2010, Singapore inspected only 5 per cent of visiting foreign ships. The regional average was much higher. This means that Singapore made only a small contribution to achieving the Tokyo MOU’s objective of a regional annual inspection rate of 80% of the total number of ships operating in the region.

    Singapore’s inspection rate was the second lowest in the region – only Vanuatu inspected relatively fewer ships. Furthermore, the data from the MOU’s annual report shows that Singapore inspections found significantly fewer deficiencies per inspection than the regional norm. After being detained in Fremantle in July, the Rena visited Singapore several times but was not inspected here.

    The maintenance of good order at sea requires the promotion of maritime safety and security and the protection of the marine environment. It is in Singapore’s own interests to ensure that sub-standard and unsafe ships do not call at its port.

    About the Author

    Sam Bateman is an adviser to the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is a former Australian naval commodore with research interests in regimes for maritime safety and security. 

    Categories: RSIS Commentary Series / Maritime Security

    Popular Links

    About RSISResearch ProgrammesGraduate EducationPublicationsEventsAdmissionsCareersVideo/Audio ChannelRSIS Intranet

    Connect with Us

    rsis.ntu
    rsis_ntu
    rsisntu
    rsisvideocast
    school/rsis-ntu
    rsis.sg
    rsissg
    RSIS
    RSS
    Subscribe to RSIS Publications
    Subscribe to RSIS Events

    Getting to RSIS

    Nanyang Technological University
    Block S4, Level B3,
    50 Nanyang Avenue,
    Singapore 639798

    Click here for direction to RSIS

    Get in Touch

      Copyright © S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. All rights reserved.
      Privacy Statement / Terms of Use
      Help us improve

        Rate your experience with this website
        123456
        Not satisfiedVery satisfied
        What did you like?
        0/255 characters
        What can be improved?
        0/255 characters
        Your email
        Please enter a valid email.
        Thank you for your feedback.
        This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. By continuing, you are agreeing to the use of cookies on your device as described in our privacy policy. Learn more
        OK
        Latest Book
        more info