states and classification societies have been criticised in a US Government investigation for significant deficiencies in cruise ship safety.

The US General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, issued a scathing indictment of ship safety practices following a one-year probe of the foreign-flagged industry operating in the US.

Lloyd's List said the GAO was particularly harsh on flag-state safety inspections and classification society surveys of cruise ships calling at US ports.

US Coast Guard examinations of the vessels showed that the flagged states and classification societies consistently failed to identify or resolve problems affecting safe ship operation.

Coast Guard inspectors "found instances of potentially unsafe conditions aboard cruise ships after the flag-state or classification society certified a vessel's compliance with international safety standards'', the GAO report said.

"Ineffective enforcement of cruise ship safety standards is evident by USCG examinations that find such potentially unsafe conditions as inoperable fire safety equipment or poorly executed fire or lifeboat drills.'' The GAO analysed 18 of 48 US Coast Guard safety examinations conducted between 1990 and 1992. All 18 had at least one deficiency in three of the six safety categories including fire protection, improper storage of flammable marterials and inoperable or missing lifesaving equipment.

The GAO suggested lax standards could result in a catastrophic accident.

Although it has recognised since 1979 that existing training standards were deficient, the IMO has not instituted stricter requirements.

The GAO insisted that the IMO's voluntary recommendations to improve training had "not produced a consistent upgrading of fire-fighting proficiency.'' It stated: "We believe cruise companies will continue to implement IMO's recommendations inconsistently if at all because the training is not mandatory.''