The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) suspended the passenger ship safety certificate of roll-on, roll-of (ro-ro) passenger vessel MV Maria Helena after it tilted and ran aground off Banton, Romblon on Sunday, July 16.
(Photo: Philippine Coast Guard)
Rizal Victoria, regional director of Marina Calabarzon office, issued a letter to Batangas-based Montenegro Shipping Lines, Inc., the operator of MV Maria Helena, informing the latter of the suspension of the passenger ship safety certificate of the distressed ferry.
According to Victoria, the decision to suspend the safety certificate was based on the provisions of Republic Act 9295 (Domestic Shipping Development Act of 2004), Marina Ship Survey System (S3), Marina Memorandum Circular No. MS 2023-01, and Marina Administrative Order No. 11-19 which all state that a vessel’s Ship Safety Certificate shall be suspended when “the ship has been involved in maritime casualties and incidents such as, but not limited to, fire, engine dearangement, grounding, collision, allision and hitting hard objects.”
Such incidents “may put into question the integrity of the hull and its integral parts and other affected machineries/appliances.”
“Further, the said vessel shall be subjected to a thorough safety inspection by Marina Inspector/Surveyor in order to determine her seaworthiness condition prior to lifting of the suspension, if warranted,” the letter read.
MV Maria Helena tilted about 15 degrees on its left side and ran aground at approximately 100 meters from the shoreline of Barangay Nasunugan around 1 a.m. on Sunday.
All the 93 passengers and 36 crew members were rescued by the authorities.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) installed oil spill booms around MV Maria Helena as part of its oil spill response measures.
“Para maiwasan ang punto ng oil spill kung sakali, agaran nating nilagyan ng oil spill boom sa tulong na rin ng shipping company (To prevent the spread of oil in case of a spill, we immediately put oil spill booms in the area with the help of the shipping company),” Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, district commander of PCG Southern Tagalog, said in a radio interview with 92.3 Radyo 5 TRUE FM.
The ferry contains approximately 21,000 liters of marine diesel oil (MDO) when the incident occurred.
Tuvilla said the PCG was continuously monitoring the ferry as it plans its way how to safely extricate the vessel from the water.
“Sadly ang nasadsaran ng subject vessel ay mabato siya so ang ating consideration ay pwede siyang mabutas. ‘Yan ang iniiwasan natin kaya agarang naglagay ng oil spill boom (Sadly the subject vessel ran aground in a rocky area so our consideration is that a hole might be pierced. That’s what we are avoiding so we installed oil spill booms),” he explained.