Port and ship security across the European Union is set to tighten if new measures proposed by the European Commission are ratified in Brussels
The European Commission has moved to tighten port and ship security throughout the European Union (EU) with legislation that would not only implement last December鈥檚 agreement at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of a shipping industry security code (News Update, SMT, December 2002, p9) but also introduce a raft of new safety measures.

Brussels mandarins have asked ministers to enact the IMO guidelines鈥� key elements, which were written into the UN agency鈥檚 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. These include the mandatory marking of vessels with an identification number, the fitting of an automatic identification system and the creation of a ship security alert system for spreading the alarm in the event of hostile (terrorist) action.

Those elements would then be written into a proposed EU regulation, which would also instruct national Governments to create clear security alert levels for all port and shipping authorities corresponding to security threat levels 1, 2 and 3 (ie normal, medium and high risk-type situations).

Unveiling details of the proposals, EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio told SMT: 鈥淭he current geopolitical climate requires an urgent and effective implementation in Europe of what has been agreed at a global level to ensure the highest possible degree of security along the entire inter-modal transport chain.鈥�

For this reason, the Commission鈥檚 proposals move some way ahead of the IMO code. For instance, Brussels wants to be given inspection powers to verify whether national EU Governments are properly implementing the legislation. It would also like to be helped along its way by the European Maritime Safety Agency.

The regulation would require a national authority in each coastal member State to be responsible for the security of ships and ports. It also speeds along some of the deadlines written into the IMO code, whose requirements should broadly be fulfilled by July next year.

In addition, while the IMO code essentially applies to international shipping, the EU legislation would also cover national passenger ferries sailing more than 20 nautical miles from the coast. Some elements of the law 鈥� relating to safety evaluations, establishing safety plans and designating safety agents for companies and ships 鈥� would be extended by the regulations to encompass all maritime ships operating within EU national waters.

Source

SMT