1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixty-sixth
session (21 May to 5 June 1996), agreed that any ship with a shortage
of halon quantities required for the satisfactory operation of its
fixed fire-extinguishing system, in ports where halon is not available,
should be dealt with under the current established procedures for
ships with any major defect or deficiency.
2 The Committee, at its sixty-seventh session
(2 to 6 December 1996), having been advised by the Sub-Committee on
Fire Protection at its forty-first session, recommended that flag
Administrations should, in consultation with the ship's master and
owners, and in co-operation with the port State and the authorities
of any specified ports of call and the port for rectification of the
defect or deficiency, establish a procedure to enable the ship to
safely depart the port, call at specified ports for discharge or loading
of cargo, and arrive at the port for rectification of the deficiency.
3 Such a procedure should specify the "port and
date of departure", the "port of rectification of the deficiency",
the "maximum duration of the voyage" and the "ports of call and operations
approved en route".
4 Member Governments are advised to consider establishing
a procedure along the lines prescribed in paragraphs 2 and 3, when
considering invoking flag State equivalent provisions when a ship
is found to have a less than fully charged fixed halon fire-extinguishing
system for machinery spaces or cargo pump-rooms.