Harry Corkerry, ISS Port Manager at Tilbury, delivers a master class in handling a detained ship - a situation encountered by most agents at some point. Recently, ISS Thames received an enquiry to handle a vessel that had been placed under detention by UK Port State Control. The detention was placed on the vessel owing to an extensive list of deficiencies identified by the authorities that would require rectifying before the detention would be lifted, enabling the vessel to depart. At the time of receiving the enquiry the vessel was trading on the river at a commercial berth and an emergency lay-by berth was required to give the vessel somewhere to lay whilst works could be carried out.

By using the ISS network and contacting various individuals who may have previously encountered the principal, we were able to quickly identify that ISS as a group had never worked with them before.

ISS UK therefore had a decision to make. It is important to note that whenever conducting business of this nature, and with companies we have no inside knowledge of, we must consider the risks to which ISS is exposed. It is important that the interests of ISS are safeguarded as costs for such a situation are liable to rise very rapidly.

A decision was made by Guy Lear, UK General Manager, to accept this agency appointment. This decision was made after consideration of what could be done to mitigate the risks, to ensure our position as port agents were protected at all times; the main points being that the vessel would be moved inside a dock secured by lock gates to ensure she had no way of departing of her own accord, and additionally that the principal had agreed to full pre-payment terms prior to vessel’s departure and any suppliers would not be paid until ISS had received the required funds.

Once the vessel was in position, where she remained for some weeks, the costs against the operation began to rise dramatically, as expected. In the space of three weeks our initial proforma disbursement account had gone from £20,000 to around £123,000. Through constant dialogue with the principal we were able to secure somewhat regular funding as the operation went along, to ensure that our exposure was kept to a minimum as an amount of such enormity could have a large impact on cash flow which is important for us to note in any business we conduct.

Our primary duty to the principal throughout the vessel’s stay was to ensure that any services for the vessel were procured in a timely and economical fashion. This was very important to ensure the vessel had the necessary resource to remedy the identified deficiencies quickly and efficiently so the delay was kept as short as possible, as with our industry time is money!  

In addition to this and the usual arranging of port services, it was of high importance that we remained in very close dialogue with the local authorities and UK Port State Control to provide regular updates on progress as well as passing any feedback to the principal and the vessel for prompt action, as this would ultimately be the deciding factor with regards to when the vessel would be in a position to get moving again.

In summary, these types of operations can be extremely costly and as port agents it is very important to control costs and make adequate arrangements with the principal to ensure funding is in place as without this, our exposure as ISS can quickly get out of control.  

We should make every effort to perform due diligence on all principals that we may not have encountered at a local level before in such instances. This can be achieved by communicating within the ISS Network for any available information or advice.
 
It is also important to remember our duty to our principal and make every effort to provide effective and cost efficient solutions by using our buying power with our vendors, our local expertise and relationships with local authorities to ensure the end result for our principal is satisfactory in the circumstances.
 
The vessel has since sailed and the disbursement account has been settled. Whilst handling detained vessels comes with its risks, if managed properly these can be very profitable engagements and a credit to ISS professionalism and reputation as one of the world’s leading maritime service providers.
Source: ISS