Outcome 1
- Safety and Environmental Protection Standards
- Monitoring Compliance with Standards
- Response to Marine Pollution Incidents
- Systems to Aid Safe Navigation
Outcome 2
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Output 1.2: Major Activities 2002-2003
Port State Control
AMSA's annual report, Port State Control in Australia, published in
June 2003, recorded that AMSA conducted 2,842 inspections of foreign flagged
ships under its port State control program during calendar year 2002. AMSA
detained 166 ships until serious safety deficiencies were rectified, representing
a detention rate of 5.8 per cent, compared to 4.4 per cent in 2001. The higher
detention rate reflects the results of AMSA's focused inspection campaigns
on specific ship safety and operational issues, improved inspection targeting
of high-risk ships, and the increased incidence of non-compliance of crew competency
certificates with the requirements introduced by the STCW95 Convention, which
came into full force in February 2002.
In December 2002, AMSA upgraded its inspection regime so all single-hull oil
tankers visiting Australian ports are targeted for inspection. This followed
a strengthening of European ship inspection programs and other measures taken
in response to
the sinking of Prestige in November 2002. This was a fully laden crude
oil tanker, which caused substantial pollution of the Spanish and French Atlantic
coastline. AMSA previously had a targeted inspection rate of 50 percent of single-hull
tankers built since 1987 and
80 percent of single-hull tankers more than 15 years old. The European action
raised worldwide concern that aged single-hull tankers would be forced out of
the European trade into
alternative markets, including the Asia-Pacific region.
Focused Ship Inspection Campaigns
After reviewing the effectiveness of the Focused Inspection Campaign, AMSA decided that it should continue in conjunction with routine port State control inspections. The program focuses on selected ship safety and operational areas identified as needing special attention. The first campaign, which operated from April to end June 2003, concentrated on the requirements of the 2002 amendments to Chapter V of the SOLAS Convention. It particularly examined operational issues relating to navigational equipment, including maintenance, testing and reporting, the provision and maintenance of charts and publications, and voyage planning and recording.
International Cooperation on Port State Control
AMSA continued its participation as a member of both the Asia-Pacific (Tokyo) and Indian Ocean Memoranda of Understanding on Port State Control. These cooperative arrangements provide better intelligence about ship inspections in the region and the opportunity for international coordination of Focused Inspection Campaigns. Summary details of ship inspections conducted by AMSA are available on the Internet at the Asia-Pacific Computerized Information System (APCIS) and the database site of Equasis, which includes the initiating maritime administrations of the European Commission and France, as well as those of Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States Coast Guard and Japan.
AMSA attended the 5th Committee Meeting of Indian Ocean MOU on Port State Control in Tehran, Iran, in October 2002 and the 12th Committee Meeting and 11th Database Managers Meeting of the Tokyo MOU on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region in Renaca, Chile, in March 2003.
Delegates at the 5th Commitee Meeting of Indian Ocean MOU on Port State Control
in Tehran, Iran, in October 2002.
Coastal Pilotage
During 2002-2003, AMSA strengthened the regulatory framework for coastal pilotage, which it administers through the licensing of pilots and regulation of the manner in which they carry out their duties through Marine Orders Part 54, made pursuant to the Navigation Act 1912 . The framework is based on the safety management systems approach implemented through the Great Barrier Reef Pilotage Safety Management Code (the Code), which applies to the 60 active licensed pilots operating in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait.
- The Code was reissued in July 2002 to formally recognise the responsibility
of pilotage service providers to appoint check pilots and to incorporate
Check Pilot Guidelines in the Code.
A number of coastal pilots have been licensed to undertake duties as check pilots after completing the necessary training course. In addition to check pilot voyages, AMSA is utilising its trained International Safety Management (ISM) auditors to carry out audit voyages with coastal pilots. - It became mandatory from 1 January 2003 for coastal pilots to have completed a Bridge Resource Management (BRM) course in order to be issued with an initial coastal pilot's licence or renew an existing licence. Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) training has been incorporated into the mandatory professional development course for pilots. The BRM course had been strongly recommended previously, but not mandated. BRM covers the initial pre-passage planning to identify the dangers to be met and the necessary precautions and contingency arrangements through the ship's passage.
- There is now a mandatory requirement for a coastal pilot to carry and use a personal alarm and to advise a ship's master of areas when the pilot intends to leave the bridge. There was evidence that some coastal pilots had been relying on ship's crew to alert them at pre-agreed waypoints during a ship's passage, which was considered a weakness in the system.
- Further studies of the effects of fatigue on coastal pilots are being undertaken by AMSA with the aim of improving fatigue management. Practical advice by a fatigue management expert on dealing with fatigue and other references have been promulgated through AMSA's Internet site. AMSA also is upgrading its computer system, the Pilotage Application System (PAS), to initiate real time reporting of coastal pilot voyages through the REEFREP Ship Reporting System. This will enable AMSA to better monitor the length of pilotage service and rest breaks. The first stage of the upgrade is targeted for completion by end 2003, with further improvements planned in the following year.
- AMSA is revising the coastal pilots training program, a part of which addresses cultural issues between pilots and ships' officers. A maritime training provider was engaged to independently review the pilot training program, including examination of recruitment standards.