A container ship which crashed in the North Sea failed steering-related safety checks.
Port state control (PSC) inspection documents from July last year show Irish officials deemed Solong’s “emergency steering position communications/compass reading” was “not readable”.
This was among 10 deficiencies highlighted during the inspection of the Portuguese vessel in Dublin.
Other issues include alarms being “inadequate”, survival craft “not properly maintained”, and fire doors “not as required”.
Solong crashed into the tanker Stena Immaculate off the east coast of Yorkshire on Monday morning.
The former is drifting and on fire, but is no longer expected to sink.
Shipping firm Ernst Russ, which owns Solong, confirmed the vessel’s captain had been arrested by Humberside Police on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after a crew member was presumed dead when a search-and-rescue operation was ended on Monday evening.
The 59-year-old man remains in custody and the force has launched a criminal investigation into the cause of the crash.
Tug boats shadow the Solong container ship as it drifts in the Humber Estuary following a collision with the Stena Immaculate oil tanker (Danny Lawson/PA)
Another PSC inspection by Scottish authorities in Grangemouth in October 2024 found two deficiencies with Solong.
One of these was related to lifebuoys – designed to be thrown into the water to prevent drowning – being “not properly marked”.
Solong was not detained after the inspections in Dublin or Grangemouth.
PSC inspections are carried out on ships in ports around the world.
They are aimed at verifying the condition of a vessel and that its equipment meets international regulations.