Protection of Fuel Tanks Safety ahead! - GL Group

It gives technical advice for updating the legislation. In
addition, it facilitates technical operation between member
states and the Commission. Thirdly, after the sinking
of the tanker Prestige, it was decided to give EMSA an operational
task in the field of pollution response, which is
complementary to the response mechanisms of the member
states.
nonstop: How does EMSA monitor the implementation of
EU maritime legislation and what are the priorities?
de Ruiter: At present the Agency is involved in different
types of assessments:
Firstly, we assess maritime administrations regarding their
obligations as flag states and as port states. One priority is
Port State Control. Member states are required to inspect
at least 25% of the ships which enter their ports. EMSA
controllers ensure that Port State Control officers throughout
the EU apply the same methods. EMSA also publishes
the list of vessels that are banned from European ports because
of grave deficiencies.
Secondly, we assess classification societies.
Thirdly, we assess educational systems in third countries,
verifying compliance with the STCW convention rules for
training of seafarers. Our motive: 75% of seafarers on EU
registered ships originate from non-EU countries and are
trained in non-EU schools. Nationals of 40 non-EU coun -
t ries (46.5% from the Philippines alone) are employed on
EU flagged ships. EMSA experts carry out an assessment of
the education system in these countries once every 5 years.
Here you have a clear case of added value: EMSA checks
the quality of nautical colleges in third countries for the
EMSA | MARITIME SERVICES
DIRECTOR. Before joining
EMSA, Willem de
Ruiter was responsible
for maritime safety in
the EU Commission.
“It is estimated that around 80% of the accidents at sea occur as
a result of human error.” Willem de Ruiter
benefit of all member states instead of each of them doing
it individually.
Fourthly, we assess security organizations, companies
and ships regarding compliance with the ISPS Code.
nonstop: How does all this affect the classification societies?
de Ruiter: The classification societies are one of the most
important parts of the maritime safety chain. Most member
states have delegated their duties of controlling the
construction and maintenance of ships to classification
societies recognized under EU law. Of more than 50 such
organizations worldwide only 12 are recognized by the EU.
These, however, survey and certify more than 90% of the
world’s tonnage.
In order to ensure compliance with the quality standards
laid down in Directive 94/57/DC each of the EU recognized
classification societies is assessed once every two
years. The agency’s assessors visit the head office, regional
offices, individual ships and ship-building sites.
nonstop: EMSA has concluded standby availability contracts
for oil recovery vessels. Does the agency take on operative
tasks in this field and will it broaden its assistance relating
to other pollutants?
de Ruiter: The Prestige disaster has clearly shown that there
is not enough pollution response capacity to deal with major
oil spills in European waters. For this reason EMSA was
requested to set up a network of vessels, equipment and
other resources to help member states to deal with oil pollution
from ships. The Baltic Sea, the Atlantic coast and the
western approaches to the Channel and the Mediterra-
nonstop 4/2006
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