Ferry deal avoids imposition of tough rules

Date: 07/12/1995

THE European Commission will stop short of demanding the toughest possible construction standards for all roll-on roll-off ferries throughout the EU, following last week's compromise deal reached by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on safety standards.

Instead, it will content itself with initiating the “widest possible debate” on whether or not tougher common standards are desirable, according to Commission officials.

The Commission's cautious approach stems from a realisation that differences between Mediterranean countries and those in the north of the Union look intractable, and that the arrangement decided on by the IMO may be the best compromise on offer.

Ferry companies also insist that what is appropriate for one ferry may be far from the best approach for another.

Flushed with the success of guiding the International Maritime Safety Code through the EU's legislative maze in double quick time, Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock will ask transport ministers tomorrow (8 December) whether they wish to try to agree EU-wide standards for vessel construction.

“We will not try to bring forward legislation for its own sake. We just want to know whether a general approach is possible, how far it could go and how useful it would actually be,” stress Kinnock's officials.

If, as most observers expect, member states react coolly, the Commission appears content to fall back on the minimum standards adopted at last week's IMO session in London.

The compromise, reached by consensus without a vote among the IMO's 128 participating countries, requires all existing ferries to be upgraded to improve stability under a 1988 amendment to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

Although this will see at least some having to fit watertight bulkheads to reduce the risk of rapid capsize caused by water flooding on to ferries' open car decks, it falls well short of the recommendations of an IMO panel of naval architects, which suggested bulkheads be fitted as standard.

Despite this, Commission officials are describing the outcome as “very positive”, particularly the decision to allow countries to negotiate tougher standards on a regional basis.

This should allow the UK and the Scandinavian countries to bring in higher standards, even though they could not insist on third countries using their ports applying the same norms. It would also ensure that a basic minimum is guaranteed in the Mediterranean.

The northern bloc of nations has been under intense public pressure to act following a series of high-profile accidents, not least the Estonia and Herald of Free Enterprise disasters.

Mediterranean countries, in particular Greece and Italy, have argued that sweeping EU-wide legislation on construction standards would be cripplingly expensive, and might lead to as many as one in five ferries being taken out of service.

They also insist that such standards would be wholly inappropriate, given that maritime conditions in the North Sea are far rougher than in southern waters and that the worst incidents have not happened in their seas.

Although the IMO accord will force some particularly old and substandard vessels in the Mediterranean region out of service, ferry operators will be granted a lengthy period in which to phase them out.

The Commission's caution stems partly from a realisation that it will be very hard to draw the diverse strands into a single line, and partly from a lack of total agreement on what is the appropriate technology.

A spokesman for Stena Line insisted that “the most important thing is to put the emphasis on operational standards”.

He added: “There is a fixation in this debate with the hardware, but it is hard to conceive one standard of modification for all vessels. Survivability standards are what really matters.”

With this in mind, Kinnock is pleased that the European Parliament and transport ministers have been able to coordinate their efforts to push through the new safety code in time for the July 1996 deadline the Commission set itself earlier this year.

This is two years faster than the schedule originally envisaged by IMO.

The scope of the code covers everything from shore-based management practices and communications to emergency procedures.