Assessment of Ship Safety Controls in the Torres Strait and Great Barrier Reef

Introduction

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has commissioned this report from Det Norske Veritas (DNV). It forms part of the Review of Great Barrier Reef Ship Safety & Pollution Prevention Measures launched in November 2000 by the Commonwealth Minister for Transport and Regional Services. The terms of reference for the wider review address a specific range of issues involved in implementing initiatives in five key areas:

1. Extending the compulsory pilotage area in the Reef taking into account the availability of skilled pilots and possible impacts on fatigue management;
2. Advancing the introduction of technological developments to track and monitor shipping operations in the Reef;
3. Enhancing existing ship routeing, traffic management and Emergency Response Division arrangements;
4. Constraining certain types of ships from operating in the Reef or adjacent to it having regard to their condition, operational status and / or cargo;
5. Improving legislative powers of intervention and enforcement, heightening the level of offences and penalties, and ordering restitution, to the maximum extent possible under international law.

This report is submitted to the Steering Committee overseeing the review. The committee contains senior officials of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), Queensland Transport (QT), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Commonwealth Department of Transport & Regional Services (DOTRS).

This work evaluates the effects of a range of preventative and mitigative controls on the risks associated with shipping activity (Points 1 – 4 above). Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) has been employed in making these judgements.

The area under consideration covers the Torres Strait and the Inner and Outer Great Barrier Reef Shipping Routes. These are characterised in greater detail in Section 2.1.