IFSMA Monthly Logs

The IFSMA Annual General Assembly was held on the 24^th and 25^th May 2007 and the papers and resolutions are promulgated on our web site.

From 28^th May to 10^th June 2007 the 96^th International Labour Conference was held in Geneva and during this session as an observer IFSMA was represented by Alan Graveson who is the Senior National Secretary of one of our Associations - Nautilus UK.

For some time now, IFSMA has been particularly concerned at the plight of those working in the Fishing Sector and the apparent lack of commitment from Administrations to ratify the IMO Torremolinos Protocol of 1993. The opportunity for IFSMA to support the drafting of ILO’s Fishing Convention was taken and although IFSMA can only act as an observer at ILO it was able to express its views by making a statement during the plenary sessions.

The statement made reference to the common bond amongst all seafarers and that ‘decent work’ was important in the interests of safety at sea and the protection of the marine environment. 

IFSMA also attended the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI), 15th session: 4-8 June 2007. Some of the salient points raised at this meeting included the following:

Code of good practice for port State control officers

A Code of good practice for port State control officers was agreed and a draft MSC/MEPC circular to include a Code of Good Practice for port State control officers, which provides guidelines regarding the standards of integrity, professionalism and transparency that regional PSC regimes expect of all port State control officers (PSCOs) who are involved in or associated with port State control inspections.

The draft Code and circular will be submitted to MEPC 56 and MSC 83 for approval. Meanwhile, the Sub Committee encouraged PSC regimes to develop and adopt a similar Code, if appropriate, to assist PSCOs in conducting their inspections to the highest degree.

Code of International Standards and Recommended Practices for a Safety Investigation into a Marine Casualty or Marine Incident

A new draft was agreed for the Code of International Standards and Recommended Practices for a Safety Investigation into a Marine Casualty or Marine Incident (Casualty Investigation Code). It was also agreed to make amendments to SOLAS in order to make this Code mandatory.

The new draft code will replace the existing Code for the investigation of marine casualties and incidents (Resolution A.849(20), as amended by A.884(21)), and the SOLAS amendments will be submitted to the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) at its 84th session, in mid 2008, for adoption.

The Code will require a marine safety investigation to be conducted into every "very serious marine casualty", defined as a marine casualty involving the total loss of the ship or a death or severe damage to the environment.

 The Code will also recommend an investigation into marine casualties (other than very serious marine casualties) and marine incidents, by the flag State of a ship involved, if it is considered likely that a marine safety investigation will provide information that can be used to prevent marine casualties and marine incidents in the future.

The proposed SOLAS amendments would include a new regulation 6 in SOLAS chapter XI-1 (Special measures to enhance maritime safety), on Additional requirements for the investigation of marine casualties and incidents. The regulation would require the Administration to conduct investigations of marine casualties and incidents. Parts I and II of the Code would be made mandatory by the regulation.

Code for the implementation of mandatory IMO instruments

The Sub-Committee also agreed draft amendments to the Code for the implementation of mandatory IMO instruments (resolution A.973(24)) and agreed to annex the full draft revised consolidated Code as an annex to the report of the Sub-Committee to the MEPC and the MSC.

The Code forms the basis of the Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme, in order to provide Member States to be audited, as well as auditors, with the auditing standard, which is subject to a process of continuous review and updating. The draft amendments agreed by the Sub-Committee update the Code, and cover amendments to mandatory instruments adopted since the last Assembly in 2005.

One study has suggested that harmonized inspection target criteria should be based on data available from maritime casualties, shipowner and ship operator records, in addition to port State inspections.

Another study combined PSC data from six regimes and casualty data from three different sources over the same time frame, as a first attempt to study PSC on a global scale by measuring the effect of inspections on the probability of casualties, thereby identifying areas for improvement. The thesis suggested that, depending on the overall risk profile of a ship, a PSC inspection could potentially decrease the probability of having a very serious casualty.

Inadequacy of port reception facilities

The Sub-committee began work on the action plan to tackle the alleged inadequacy of port reception facilities, which had been approved by the MEPC at its 55th session. Tackling the issue of reception facilities is necessary in order to achieve full compliance with MARPOL and the action plan is aimed at contributing to the effective implementation of the MARPOL Convention and promoting quality and environmental consciousness among administrations and shipping.

The Sub-Committee agreed on the need to populate extensively the IMO Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) Port Reception Facilities Database, which is intended to provide information (input directly by Member States, under a password-protected system) on contact points for flag and port State and data on available reception facilities for oily wastes, chemical (NLS) wastes, garbage, sewage, ozone depleting substances and exhaust gas cleaning residues. It was noted that, so far, few States had fulfilled their reporting requirements under MARPOL by submitting data on their port reception facilities.

Rodger MacDonald
Secretary General