Yellow Submarine Cayman was operating without a submarine safety certificate when its vessel, which was carrying passengers, collided with the Cayman Aggressor IV liveaboard dive boat on 7 Jan.
Cayman Islands Shipping Registry’s Heidi Sony, in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Cayman Compass, confirmed on 6 March that Down Under Submarines Ltd. – the company that operates the yellow submarine, does not have the required submarine safety certificate it needs to operate passenger excursions on the yellow submarine.
The submarine was also operating without a submarine safety certificate when its communications cable got tangled in the engine of another dive boat in an earlier incident.
A shipping notice issued by the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands states that, “In order to register a submersible with the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry, the Registrar will require … A Submersible Craft Safety Certificate.”
Merchant Shipping Act
The shipping notice states explicitly that “under the Merchant Shipping Act, it is an offence to operate a submersible to which the regulations apply without a valid Safety Certificate”.
The Merchant Shipping Act (2024) requires every submersible craft that operates within the limits of Cayman’s territorial seas or is majority-owned by a Caymanian or Cayman Islands’ company to be registered as a submersible craft and have a safety certificate.
Section 191 of the Merchant Shipping Act states that any submarine that is “launched, recovered, operated or supported” in contravention of the Act can be detained.
Under the offences section of the Merchant Shipping Act, “A person who causes or permits a submersible craft to be launched, recovered, operated or supported or is otherwise concerned in the launch, recovery, operation or support of a submersible craft in contravention of section 191 (2)” is liable upon summary conviction of a fine of $20,000.
The Cayman Islands Shipping Registry has not yet confirmed if any enforcement or legal actions have been taken against the yellow submarine or Down Under Submarines Ltd. for being in contravention of the Merchant Shipping Act.
However, according to the manager of Down Under Submarines Ltd., Andrey Alexeenko said, the company is preparing to resume operations.
“The submarine has been currently diving at a new approved dive site,” Alexeenko said on 10 March. “We are finishing training with recently arrived crew. It also takes time to adjust to a new dive site. This is the reason we do not take passengers yet. Also, we had to find another support vessel. The previous one is being repaired.”
On the subject of the required safety certificate, he said, “The safety certificate question is for the Registry. We have completed our survey last year in presence of the ABS and the Registry surveyor. There are no outstanding deficiencies. They would like to attend our dives. That was the only request.”
“I am not sure why we were not issued a safety certificate by the Registry eight months after the survey was completed, but we were given an exemption to operate in Cayman waters without local registration,” Alexeenko said.
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