El Faro was targeted by Coast Guard inspectors as potentially at-risk

The El Faro was set to receive a more rigorous inspection regiment.

The Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance Policy Office Chief Captain Kyle McAvoy says the El Faro had been identified on their annual “targeting list”, which is the 10% of vessels under the Alternate Compliance Program potentially most at-risk for issues. The list was set to be released in the timeframe of what became El Faro’s fatal voyage, but was held until it was determined the ship went down.

“We left the El Faro on the message, just with the asterisk that unfortunately the vessel was not servicing,” McAvoy says.

AUDIO: Emergency calls from El Faro's Captain ahead of the ship sinking

McAvoy told the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation that factors like outstanding issues of classification, non-conformities, expired documents, age, and deficiencies earn a vessel points by which the "targeting list" is gauged. For El Faro, McAvoy says there were one or two "reportable marine casualties"- specifically incidents with a mariner's health- which gave them the points to push them over the threshold and on to the list. The American Bureau of Shipping asked whether that indicated mechanical issues weren't a reason for the ship being on the list.

“To cross the threshold of making it on to the list, there’s other factors,” McAvoy says.

He says the ship would have had to already have marked problems in other areas in order to get close to the threshold.  In other words, if El Faro had no prior issues noted by the Coast Guard, the problem with a mariner's health would not have- in itself- warranted being on the "targeting list".

According to McAvoy, being on the targeting list means a Marine Inspector with the Coast Guard would have called on the El Faro at its next port for an investigation and would have had increased monitoring on the vessel after that point as well.

GALLERY: Underwater wreckage of the El Faro

The El Faro was under the Alternate Compliance Program, a system for commercial vessels to get all needed certifications and inspections by an authorized class society like the American Bureau of Shipping. Testimony through Monday's session raised questions about the effectiveness and reliability of the program.

McAvoy further said there are issues the Coast Guard is having with keeping expertise in their Office of Marine Inspection. He says it’s a “challenge” to maintain skillsets for these inspections.

WOKV will continue to update you from the MBOI, with instant information on Twitter.