Pentalina ‘met the standards required’ says MCA

MV Pentalina “met the standards required” at the time it was issued a short term safety certificate, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has affirmed this Sunday.

The ferry, which grounded at St Margaret’s Hope on Saturday evening, was issued with a month-long certificate last week, after initially being refused by the MCA due to outstanding issues.

Amid questions over the vessel’s certification in light of the subsequent incident, the MCA has issued a further statement confirming its position on the catamaran.

An MCA spokeswoman said: “The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in conjunction with the vessel’s Classification Society, completed surveys on the vessel Pentalina on the April 18 and issued a Passenger Ship Safety Certificate; at this time the vessel met the standards required for issue of this certificate.

“Surveyors from the MCA will be attending the vessel today (April 30) in St Margaret’s Hope to undertake initial fact finding to establish the cause and circumstances surrounding the incident which occurred on the evening of April  29, 2023.”

Earlier today, Orkney’s MSP and MP called for urgent questions to be answered by both the MCA and the Scottish Government regarding the issuing of the safety certificate and the impact the incident may have on upcoming travel.

Widespread praise has been given to all those who responded to the grounding which occurred after smoke was detected in the Pentalina’s engine room.

Aboard were 60 passengers, all of whole were safely evacuated.

While the vessel is currently being assessed for damage, no confirmation had been made on how this would impact ongoing services on the St Margaret’s Hope to Gills Bay route at the time of publication.