Erica and prestige these two names are synonymous with tragedies that
highlighted the vulnerability of Europe's coastline in response to these
disasters the European Union took a series of supplementary measures to make
it seas safer among them with the creation of the European Maritime Safety
Agency a ban on single hull ships carrying heavy fuel oil reinforced
inspection of ships in ports and the publication of a blacklist of banned
vessels today a third set of measures on maritime safety is being proposed by the
European Commission this coherent package allows Europe to offer a
maritime service which is safe competitive and which respects the
environment the sea send the security portal cordially it's true that the
security system still has deficiencies and it's been observed that one of the
missing links was a better definition of the responsibility of the Member States
with regard to vessels sailing under their Flags Kiba
Perry on the set a turn on
since enlargement Europe's fleet makes up 25% of the world ships the
Commission's ambition is to make this a model fleet to achieve this all member
states must examine ships registered in their country according to the same
criteria and with the same determination hence the idea of writing the
International Maritime Organization control standards into community law and
so make their application obligatory throughout the Union it's a proposal
which is very much in line with the thoughts of Europe ship owners the EU
fleet is a modern one high-quality and has been renewed constantly and the
average age is constantly going down we realized that some people have made
criticism about the flux of the new countries especially the big fleets of
Cyprus and Malta but even there the last year since accession and since they have
to apply the Aki kimono there there also improvements have been made but why
strive for a model fleet in Europe if Europe's ports are being used by
floating dustbins from other regions of the world they're a real danger bring
discredit to the profession and represent unfair competition to get rid
of them there are many more controls in ports but the system is not yet perfect
now you have also still up to today requirement for positive control in
member states to control 25% of the ships call in that port now if you are
only at 10% in June then you quickly control quality ships it's easy to get
your 25 percent by the end of the year that's not the purpose it's exactly this
that the Commission wants to change throughout Europe the objective would be
to inspect each vessel with a higher risk profile more frequently and quality
ships less frequently this is what's happening here in Southampton in
southern England where inspectors rarely board a vessel by chance we should
mention that this particular ship did meet all the legal requirements
good morning captain horse a control
okay so you got the peanuts not totally random no we have something called a
target factor which has worked out on the basis of the flag of the vessel the
past history of the vessel the size of the vessel and the type of the vessel
and then depending on the target factor if it has a high target factor we will
inspect it if it has a lower target factor of course we inspect them less
often because we work on the basis that you've got a low target factor you don't
want to actually penalize the good boys if you know what I mean it is impossible
obviously to put an inspector on every ship however each vessel does need a
pilot to enter the port pilots will therefore be asked to report vessels
which are clearly not up to scratch
if we get a report from a pilot we will always inspect that vessel because they
are a very good indicator on operational standards on the vessel was
unfortunately we are rather stuck with that we are very limited in the
operational aspects of a ship apart from what we see when were on the ship so we
do rely to a degree on people like pilots another sector involved in
maritime security is classification societies they establish construction
standards for ships monitor construction deliver navigation certificates and
certify repair and maintenance work but the quality of these societies work
could be better controlled inspectors from the European Maritime Safety Agency
should have unrestricted access to files and to all the vessels monitored by
these societies and when things go wrong proper sanctions are needed a range of
measures which will also introduce financial penalties the European Union
has four times more coastline than Russia and seven times more than the
United States it has to deal with one of the highest levels of maritime traffic
in the world hence the importance of monitoring to prevent accidents and
react instantly in case of problems it's vital to have maximum information about
each ship and here the solution is called safe sea net an electronic data
exchange network operated by the European Maritime Safety Agency which
will be extended throughout the Union by connecting to safe sea net any country's
maritime authorities will be able to directly consult the information
contained in the databases of their European partners and find out all about
any vessel sailing in Europe's waters
improving security also means preparing for the worst and learning lessons from
previous catastrophes as a result of the prestige disaster the European Union is
demanding that its members define refuges owns to accommodate ships in
distress this concept has been used in the United Kingdom for almost ten years
the aim is to limit pollution to a restricted area such as this Bay rather
than allow it to disperse over hundreds of kilometers with well-known
consequences the bay out there is the sort of place that we might use to bring
this ship if it needed sheltered waters to effect repairs or assess damage in
the UK our policy is that everywhere could become a place of refuge there is
no ranking before an incident as soon as an incident occurs then some places are
going to be better for that particular incident than others but as I say it's
determined by exactly what the incident is when it occurs and where what's more
Member States will have to nominate a single completely independent authority
which will take the decision to send a vessel in distress to the most
appropriate place of refuge that person has the power to make decisions all
decisions relating to places of refuge to make the ultimate decisions and take
over overriding command without recourse to any higher authority that is the
Secretary of State's representative the sovereign that is me as a result of any
catastrophe they must follow an inquiry into the causes allocation of
responsibility and compensation on these points the Commission is asking for more
transparency on the one hand and stricter penalties on the other as far
as compensating the victims of oil spills goes Europe has already obtained
the quadrupling of the damages ceiling applied by people the International
indemnity fund but beyond increased compensation there's also the matter of
making the profession more responsible for example by making civil liability
insurance obligatory for all ships even today 5% of ships at sea are not
insured and of course among these other most dangerous vessels but one of the
most spectacular decisions taken after the prestige disaster is about
addressing pollution due to serious negligence or intentional act this type
of criminal section which will be extended to cover the whole European
Union has proved effective in France where for example off the coast of
brittany they've managed to significantly reduce degassing at sea
which is a less concentrated source of pollution but nonetheless a considerable
one the role of the European Maritime Safety Agency is being reinforced in
this area it will develop tracing systems allowing identification of
polluters it could also mobilize specialist vessels to deal with oil
spills which would be ready to intervene swiftly on request of the Member States
concerned in matters of maritime security the European Union has clearly
decided to tirelessly track down substandard vessels and to improve its
level of preparedness and vigilance the instruments are there it's now up to
each country to implement them to make the seas safer for everyone
Sukie format no what we obviously need now is to insist on very high quality
maritime administration's in each member state and we must also make the voice of
Europe heard in the International Maritime Organization to put up a
determined fight against dustbin vessels substandard ships which represent unfair
competition to our flags we want these European flags to be models which i
think is an excellent objective a so coxeter many thick objective