MTM Ship Managment PTE LTD, Singapore and Australian Maritime Safety Authority

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to detain the vessel MTM Shanghai. The applicant, MTM Ship Management PTE LTD, sought to challenge the detention, which occurred during a port State control inspection in Fremantle on 17 August 2020. AMSA, responsible for maritime safety, identified four deficiencies, one of which was deemed to render the vessel unseaworthy and substandard.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the identified deficiency constituted grounds for the vessel's detention under relevant maritime safety regulations. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the vessel was unseaworthy or substandard at the time of inspection due to a failure of its emergency generator to automatically power the emergency switchboard during a simulated blackout. The Tribunal also considered whether AMSA's decision to detain the vessel was the correct and preferable one.

The Tribunal reasoned that the failure of the emergency generator to automatically connect to the emergency switchboard was a significant deficiency that rendered the vessel incompatible with the requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Despite attempts to rectify the issue during the inspection, the control officer confirmed that the generator still required manual connection. The Tribunal found that the control officer had reasonable suspicion that the vessel was substandard and unseaworthy, and that the decision to detain the MTM Shanghai was therefore the correct and preferable course of action. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed AMSA's decision to detain the vessel.