Brussels, 16/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Controlling of the trend towards ever larger cruise liners, defining zones that vessels should avoid, improving the training of crew members and also better defining the compensation arrangements for environmental damage: these are the measures proposed by the maritime regions, three months after the Costa Concordia disaster, to prevent further terrible shipwrecks in future.
As the Commission opens a public consultation on the safety of passengers ships (see related article), the coastal regions draw the attention of the European institutions to what should be done to improve maritime safety. The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) sets out its position in the “Giglio Statement”, after debates at the conference on maritime safety held on 12-13 April on the island of Giglio (Italy), only a stone's throw from where the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground in January, still lies.
The CPMR highlighted the damage caused by shipwrecks to the regions, the growth of which depends, however, on the maritime and cruise industries. For this reason, it is crucial that the regions be involved in international efforts to reduce the risk of accidents as far as possible. The coastal regions are not particularly happy about the ever increasing size of liners which raises questions about both the stability of the vessels and procedures for the evacuation of such large numbers of passengers. They feel that maritime traffic could be monitored and that certain areas could be designated no-sailing areas, both because of the dangers they present and to reduce risks to the environment. It would also be useful to discuss the training of crew members in evacuation procedures. The CPMR also believes that laws on environmental damage should be tightened up, by having them recognised as such and making it easier to determine liability so that fair compensation can be made. The regions are critical of national governments which are dragging their feet in transposing the Erika III package into national law. Indeed, the CPMR is pushing for a fourth package to be adopted to make further progress on maritime safety. (MD/transl.rt)