Coast Guard

Inspection Program Improvements Are Under Way to Help Detect Unsafe Tankers Gao ID: RCED-92-23 October 8, 1991

The spill of more than 10 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound as a result of the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 increased emphasis on preventing tanker spills and on the Coast Guard program to inspect U.S. and foreign-flagged tankers operating in U.S. waters. The importance of these inspections has been further underscored by the dramatic aging of the world fleet. This report provides information on (1) conditions and problems identified by the Coast Guard that are affecting its tanker inspection program and (2) actions being taken or considered by the Coast Guard to improve the inspection program. Given the aging of the tanker fleet, reduced maintenance levels, and the unreliability of the current inspection program, GAO concludes that improvements in vessel inspection are needed to ensure that tankers operating in U.S. waters are safe. Because the Coast Guard has only recently implemented some changes in its tanker inspection program, it is too soon to evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken thus far. However, until the Coast Guard strengthens its program management by involving industry in its planning process and developing strategies for planning, implementing, and evaluating changes, it will be unable to ensure the effectiveness of its corrective actions.

GAO found that: (1) Coast Guard inspections have not always been reliable in detecting unsafe U.S. tankers due to such problems as insufficient staffing, inexperienced inspectors, and limited inspection procedures; (2) inspections have often failed to identify serious problems with foreign-flagged tankers due to insufficient inspector training and efforts to reduce costs; and (3) program officials have taken actions to increase the number of inspectors, started a program to help ensure that experienced inspectors inspect older and other potentially unsafe vessels, and started an international dialogue on actions needed to improve the inspection and safety of vessels worldwide.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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