‘Ro-ro’ ferries safety rules tightened

Date: 27/06/1996

By Michael Mann

ROLL-ON roll-off ferries operating in and out of European ports will be subject to tighter safety regulations from the beginning of next week.

Almost ten years after the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise in March 1987, a new EU regulation will come into force on 1 July based on sections of the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) international safety management code.

Welcoming the EU's decision to force through legislation two years earlier than necessary under IMO procedures, Socialist MEP Mark Watts - who represents England's port area of Kent - has called for the patchwork of measures to be further tightened with action on technical standards for vessels and working conditions.

He claims that “80&percent; of disasters are caused by human error, and this has been ignored over the years by the maritime industry”.

The measures entering into force next week require ferry operators to harmonise a range of safety procedures.

Commission officials stress that the changes - agreed amid a great fanfare last December - are limited to ferries on regular services to and from European ports, but underline the significance of the new rules.

“For the first time, we have a real safety policy at company level,” said one.

This will complement the political agreement reached by transport ministers this month to improve the safety of passenger ships on domestic voyages and the common position agreed on marine equipment.

Although it will be the responsibility of the member states' inspection authorities to ensure operators abide by the new criteria, the Commission has been providing third countries with information on what is expected of them if they are to be allowed to sail in and out of EU ports.

Reacting to rumours that operators in some countries were dragging their feet, Watts said the new rules would almost certainly reveal shortcomings in some countries' inspection systems.

He is also concerned that discussions on improving the construction of 'ro-ros' are “rumbling on” with no prospect of a satisfactory solution. A number of European countries agreed in Stockholm earlier this year to apply tougher construction standards to ferries operating in northern waters, but could not persuade member states to extend the measures to the Mediterranean. The Commission has not yet received official notification from the countries involved that the agreed modifications are under way.

MEPs are also concerned about evidence that ferry crews are having to work extra-long hours, often up to 86 hours every week, and point to the increasing use of unskilled and non-EU labour on board EU-registered vessels.

They are looking to the Commission to propose new legislation to tackle this problem. Directorate-General VII (transport) is looking at work going on under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation to give a lead on limiting working hours for maritime workers.

Meanwhile DGV (social affairs) is planning a White Paper on those areas currently exempted from the working time directive, although an official admitted it would be “very difficult to get anything adopted”.