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The Estonian Transport Administration carried out a reinspection of the tanker Kiwala on Saturday, and inspectors confirmed that previously identified deficiencies had been corrected, and the ship was then granted permission to continue its voyage.
«For us, it was important that the ship and its owner addressed the deficiencies and that the vessel would be safe and secure continuing its voyage,» Kristjan Truu, director of the maritime service at the Transport Administration, said.
During the reinspection, inspectors reviewed the results of an audit carried out into the ship, the crew’s preparedness for emergencies, and the elimination of technical deficiencies.
The vessel was allowed to depart once the results of the reinspection were formally recorded onboard.
During the initial inspection on April 11, 40 deficiencies were found, 29 of which were grounds for detaining the ship. 23 of the identified issues related to documentation, while others concerned the implementation of the ship's safety management system, crew preparedness for various shipboard emergencies, and technical deficiencies.
One major issue had been uncertainty regarding the ship's flag state. The vessel had listed Djibouti as its flag state, but Djibouti had previously struck the ship from its register due to illegal activities. On April 14, Djibouti provided new information stating that the ship would be accepted back into its register until May 7, and that its certificates would remain valid until then. Djibouti also sent a letter of confirmation to the Transport Administration.
The Transport Administration continues to inspect ships operating in Estonia's exclusive economic zone. Since last June, the agency has checked the documents of more than 450 ships, during which various insurance documents were submitted for inspection. One forgery was discovered, and other documents suspected of forgery were forwarded to flag states for verification. In addition, the Transport Administration, in cooperation with other agencies, has inspected seven ships at anchorages.
Additional inspections are necessary because in recent years transit traffic through the Gulf of Finland has increased, raising risks to Estonia's critical infrastructure, safe navigation, and the marine environment.