REGULATION news
Requirements for lifting equipment inspection, and certification
The Gibraltar Maritime Administration has issued a shipping information notice on the requirements for lifting equipment inspection, and certification. Following a recent fatality on board a Gibraltar-registered vessel involving the failure of a hatch cover gantry crane, a preliminary investigation has highlighted the possible need to remind owners and managers of Gibraltar vessels of the requirements with regard to lifting operations and lifting equipment maintenance, inspection, test, and certification.
The majority of injuries to crew involving lifting equipment occur as a result of persons being struck, crushed or caught in moving parts and equipment. The cause is often attributed to incorrect practices or to errors of judgement. Other types of serious accidents are caused by the failure of lifting equipment or single point failures of equipment. Inappropriate use of lifting equipment and failure of lifting equipment can also have an adverse effect on a vessel’s stability, and on smaller vessels, this could possibly lead to capsize.
Gibraltar vessels are required to comply with the UK Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment) Regulations 2006, guidance on this regulation is provided by the UK Marine Guidance Note MGN 332 (M+F) as amended.
These regulations place certain duties on vessel operators and managers with regard to lifting operations and lifting equipment maintenance, inspection, test and certification, and the following highlights some of these requirements.
Companies should note that during attendance on-board Gibraltar vessels and also during safety management audits at company premises, surveyors from this department will examine the procedures for lifting appliance maintenance, inspection, and certification.
Read the shipping information notice at
https://bit.ly/3K5b7o2.
New UK law opens door for wider use of electronic bills of lading
The UK has passed new legislation in the form of the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, which is set to come into force on 20 September this year. David Richards, Deputy Global Head of P&I Claims and Head of Legal & Expertise at NorthStandard, said that this represented the most significant piece of English legislation affecting bills of lading in 30 years because, in common with some other jurisdictions like Singapore, English law would now recognize that, in the right circumstances, an electronic bill of lading can have the same legal effects as a paper bill of lading.
Richards noted that it had long been recognized that an electronic bill of lading was capable of fulfilling two of the traditional functions of a paper bill of lading:
- it can be a receipt for cargo received for shipment
- it can evidence the terms of the contract of carriage.
However, it was hitherto considered that an electronic bill of lading is not capable of fulfilling the third function of a paper bill of lading: its role as a document of title. For carriers in
particular, this meant uncertainty about whether delivery of goods according to an electronic bill of lading protected a carrier against claims for misdelivery.
Briefly, the Act provides that an electronic trade document governed by English law is equivalent to a paper bill of lading provided certain gateway criteria are met.
Those criteria are that the electronic trade document should contain a certain minimum amount of information; be capable of exclusive control and allow a holder to divest itself of that control; the underlying electronic trade system must be reliable and have integrity; and, it should be possible to identify what is an original electronic trade document and what is a copy and to identify who uniquely controls the electronic trade document at any point in time.
Providers of electronic trading systems will look to try and ensure their systems fulfil all of these gateway criteria. Richards observed that “in time one will no doubt be tested by the English courts”.
At present, cover for liabilities arising in respect of carriage of cargo under electronic (paperless) trading systems is as set out under the various club circulars on this topic. Since February 2010, such liabilities are covered provided the electronic trade system is first approved by the International Group and this remains the position.
THE REPORT | DEC 2023 | ISSUE 106 | 51
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