Brussels, 20/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport, hopes the investigation results into the Costa Concordia incident will be made available within a year at most. Work underway on review of legislation on the safety of passenger ships will take full account of what is learned from the disaster that occurred on Friday 13 January off the Italian coast. It would seem, however, that it has already been established that the cost of damage done by possible maritime pollution will have to be met by the carrier. The victims of the Concordia will not, however, be able to call on European legislation providing for passenger compensation, as that legislation is not due to come into force until the end of 2012.
Damages. The Commission foresees the possibility of introducing liability on the part of the carrier, with a ceiling of €300,000 in compensation for victims of accidents at sea, but this requires transposition of the Athens Convention 2005 established by the International Maritime Organisation, foreseen for the end of the year.
Pollution. There is a high risk of marine pollution as oil may spill from the ship. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has given its assurance that a dedicated oil spill response vessel under a stand-by contract with EMSA is stationed at La Spezia, and is ready to intervene. The pumping process will begin as soon as search and rescue operations have been completed. Commission experts clearly pointed out, on Friday 19 January, that, in the very worst scenario, the costs incurred for cleaning up the oil spill and other damage must be borne by the carrier, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle.
Review in sight. One week after the accident, Commissioner Siim Kallas reiterated his condolences to the victims of the incident and to their families. He also sent a letter to his Italian counterpart, stating: “We will ensure that any lessons from the Costa Concordia are fully taken into account in the already ongoing review of EU passenger ship safety law. And we want to accelerate this work wherever possible. The challenge is to ensure that safety rules for passenger ships fully keep pace with the latest designs and technologies in a fast changing sector”.
The most consequential reviews will adapt Directive 2009/45 on passenger ship safety and Directive 2003/25 on the stability of ferries carrying passengers. The latter should undergo the most significant changes, one Commission expert states, in particular regarding stability as passengers are still carried away when a vessel overturns. If the stability of the vessel is improved after the incident, there are more lives saved, and rescue is facilitated. The directive should also better reflect the considerable technical progress that the sector has known in the past five years. As things stand, legislation only concerns vessels made of steel, when increasingly new materials are being used such as a combination of plastic and glass fibre. Other aspects of European legislation will be reviewed concerning the evacuation of ships, enlarged application to different kinds of vessels (such as yachts, historic craft, etc), and the training and qualification of on-board personnel.
Next stages of the review. In order to make improvements to legislation in force as effective as possible, Kallas will hold discussions with representatives of the cruise industry at the end of the month and will launch a public consultation process on the matter in February. Details on review proposals should be unveiled by the summer. The commissioner will return to the matter of the Costa Concordia when speaking to members of the transport committee on Tuesday 24 January, at their next meeting. (MD/transl.jl)