THE London P&I Club has reported a growing incidence of shortcomings with regard to the condition of manhole cover gaskets on board ships.

In the latest issue of its StopLoss Bulletin, the club says that feedback from its Ship Inspection Programme indicates that an increasing number of inspectors are reporting issues in this respect.

The club says it is standard practice for enclosed onboard spaces such as ballast tanks, cofferdams and void spaces to be inspected as part of a prescribed schedule to ensure that the structural condition of the ship in such difficult-to-reach locations remains acceptable. During such inspections, the condition of coatings, sounding pipes, striker plates and other structures within the tanks is usually documented, but the club says that P&I inspections have revealed that the condition of the gaskets at the manhole entrance to tanks is sometimes inadvertently overlooked.

Tags: London P&I Club