Call for tighter legislation for passenger safety at sea

Date: 27/03/1997

MEPs will consider calls next month for draft Union safety legislation on passenger ships operating within the EU to be tightened up.

Under proposals prepared by the European Commission, and due to apply from January, all commercial vessels would have to compile a full register of passengers - giving their names, sex and age - on any journey over 20 nautical miles from a Union port.

The information, which is designed to increase the effectiveness of rescue operations after an accident, would have to be available no later than 30 minutes after the vessel's departure.

The scheme is now being examined by the European Parliament and EU governments just days after the tenth anniversary earlier this month of the sinking of the P&O passenger ship The Herald of Free Enterprise, which capsized within minutes of leaving Zeebrugge with the loss of 191 lives.

British Socialist MEP Mark Watts is campaigning to make the measures even more stringent and to ensure that the safety standards are also applied to what he terms “under sea” rail and road tunnels over 20 miles long - a definition which would extend its provisions to the Channel tunnel.

Coming just months after last year's highly damaging fire in the recently opened tunnel, Watts' initiative would also ensure that in the extremely competitive cross-Channel passenger business, no operator would be able to gain a crucial advantage by being exempt from the new requirement to complete a passenger register.

“The Eurostar passenger train already compiles a register and the only one which does not at the moment is the drive-on, drive-off car shuttle. The fire brigade, for instance, strongly believes that it is wrong if it does not know, in the event of an accident, how many people there are in the tunnel at any one time,” he explained.

The Socialist MEP is confident of winning the support of the Parliament's transport committee next month for his plan to ensure that full details of the passenger register are available before ferries or trains start out on their journeys.

“If we are going to compile registers, then we should do it properly. If you say companies can use 30 minutes of their travelling time to provide the information, they could be half way to their destination, particularly if it involves the Channel,” said Watts.

The idea is being resisted by some cross-Channel ferry firms, who fear complying with such an obligation could cause delays and reduce their competitiveness.

But it has so far prompted no complaints from operators in other Union waters such as the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

Computer software companies also maintain that the technology now exists which ensures that complete lists can be compiled without causing major delays.