Brussels, 13/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 September, the European Commission adopted a regulation for implementation of the directive on port state controls, specifying criteria allowing for the risk profile of vessels navigating in European waters to be assessed. Adoption of the regulation opens the way to the setting in place, in January 2011, of a scheme for differentiated security inspections depending on the risk profile of the vessel inspected, as set out in the same directive which is part of the third maritime package (EUROPE 9859).
Provisions of the regulation establish a series of criteria (profile of the shipping company, flag states, age and type of ship), all of which are necessary for establishing the risk profile of the ship. Above all, this provides for the introduction, from 1 January 2011, of an online registry with a view to “naming and shaming” the shipping companies whose vessels do not meet European security standards. The register will also work the other way round, allowing the most successful companies to be identified without, however, showing up on the black list of shipping companies. The database will be based on THETIS, a tool for the collection of inspection information developed and exploited by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). It will keep note of all security inspections carried out in EU ports on vessels and then make a risk analysis that will determine the frequency and the priorities of inspections (these being carried out by the relevant member state authorities). The online register will include companies whose safety performance has been low or very low for a period of three months or more. Ships on the register which are operated by companies with bad safety records of deficiencies and detentions will be subject to very frequent inspections while ships operated by companies with good records will benefit from fewer inspections. According to the Commission, each year over 80,000 ships call into European ports. Most of them (66%) operate under the European flag. In 2009, 626 ships were involved in accidents with 52 victims, and about 2,000 tonnes of fuel were poured into the sea. (A.By./transl.jl)