Maritime traffic and safety
The EU’s waters are among the busiest in the world, something that has a direct impact on maritime safety, with more than 680,000 calls to EU ports in 2020. Nearly a quarter of all ships that visited EU ports over the past five years were flagged to non-EU Member States, almost all (92%) registered to countries under the Paris MoU white list, i.e., with good safety records.
During that period, only 5% of non- EU Member State-flagged ships visiting ports here were registered to countries with some safety issues (listed in the Paris MoU grey list) and only 3% were registered to countries with more significant safety issues (listed in the Paris MoU black list). The top three non-EU Member State- flagged ships visiting EU ports came from Panama, Antigua & Barbuda, and Liberia.
The interchange of information is essential for safety. The main challenges here include the reduction of the number of mis-declared hazardous materials (hazmat) cargoes and the operationalisation of a true European Maritime Single Window to increase the data quality, facilitate cooperation, and reduce administrative burdens.
Seafarers and safety
Qualified seafarers are essential to ensuring the safety of ship operations and are vital for the future of the maritime sector. There are currently approximately 330,000 masters and officers holding certificates of competency that allow them to serve onboard EU MS flagged ships, close to 40% of them from nonEU countries. However, the age profile of seafarers is increasing, and recruitment and retention of those who work on board ships remains a challenge for the future.
The seafaring profession is one of the toughest in the world, and the contribution of sailors to the global economy should not be underestimated, especially in crisis situations like that of COVID-19, which also demonstrated the vulnerability of their conditions.
Long days at sea, often in bad weather conditions, together with
intense activity in port, contribute to physical and mental fatigue. Port state control (PSC) inspections show that around 25% of all deficiencies found are related to the human element, most of them within MLC Title 4 which deals with healthcare, safety protection and accident prevention among seafarers. In addition, increased automation on ships is bringing new challenges to the profession.
Ship safety standards
The cycle of proposing, discussing, approving, and implementing new safety requirements is a complex and lengthy process. For example, the issue of fire on RoPax vessels was first highlighted in 2015 after the Norman Atlantic disaster, in which 11 people lost their lives. The new standards developed to tackle this problem are only likely to become mandatory in 2026.
In most cases, the upgraded standards are not applied retroactively, due to their disproportionate economic and technical impact, meaning that safety changes can take decades to impact on the fleet. A good example is the damage stability requirements for passenger ships. An analysis of the EU Member State flagged fleet shows that almost 40% of the passenger ships currently in operation were built before 1990.
Since then, the damage stability requirements have been significantly upgraded three times. Fire safety on RoPax, the carriage of alternative fuelled vehicles on ships, the interface between the ro-ro industry and road transport, the lack of harmonisation of fire safety standards for materials other than steel, small passenger ships, fires on containerships, the increase of automation, and the general adoption of the e-tag for marine equipment are some of the challenges that will be faced in the near future.
Fishing vessels
There are close to 75,000 fishing vessels registered in the EU-27. They present a high vulnerability to accidents, in that 50% of all the accidents involving fishing vessels are either very serious or serious, whereas the average for all ship categories is 27%. In addition, even though fishing vessels represent 17%
96 | The Report • September 2022 • Issue 101
of the total number of ships involved in accidents reported, the number of fishing vessels lost represents more than 55% of total number of lost vessels, a trend observed in recent years. The international convention dealing with the safety standards of fishing vessels, the Cape Town Agreement, is not yet in force. At EU level, Directive 97/70/EC establishes minimum safety requirements for fishing vessels above 24 metres in length (3% of the fleet).
Enforcement
The implementation of maritime safety legislation in the EU is the responsibility of Member States in their capacities as flag, port, and coastal States. Notable here is the work done by all port state control (PSC) inspectors in the EU, with more than 14,000 inspections carried out each year. At least one deficiency is found in one out of every two inspections, and more than 50% of all deficiencies recorded are safety-related (falling under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)).
Deficiencies related to fire safety are most frequently reported, regardless of ship type. For example, 39% of the SOLAS deficiencies found on RoPax ships are related to fire safety, a percentage similar to that found in the special regime inspections for RoPax and highspeed craft (HSC), where almost 40% of deficiencies found relate to fire safety.
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