By Brian Johnson - 22nd November 2005
Brussels is set to sink uncooperative ship owners and member states that routinely turn a blind eye to dangerous shipping practices, under a new maritime safety package.
EU transport chief, Jacques Barrot will present his proposals for a third maritime safety programme, the so called Erika III package on Wednesday.
Barrot has a complex set of seven legislative proposals in the package, ranging from strengthening the control of shipping operating in EU waters to improving passenger rights and compensation packages.
The French commissioner is expected to admit that current EU maritime safety regulations are not being fully respected by a number of member states, and that stronger sanctions are needed.
In December 1999, the oil tanker Erika sank off the coast of France causing widespread environmental damage.
That disaster launched a new phase in the development of European maritime security policy, the Erika I and II directives, but Barrot believes that six years on, similar shipping to the Erika are still sailing in EU waters.
“It’s our duty to do something about the ship owners’ responsibilities,” said Barrot in a recent Parliament Magazine interview.
“There is no systematic control of those ships…and one can have some doubt about the quality of some of these controls.”
And Barrot is threatening under the port state control directive to produce blacklists of European ships and companies that do not fully fulfill EU safety criteria.
The commissioner is also looking to impose precise safety locations, so called ‘ports of refuge’, for shipping and to improve the surveillance of ships that use these ports.
Also on the cards is a satellite monitoring system (safe seaNet) that would control shipping along EU coastal waters.
And one of the thorniest issues which is expected to be heavily opposed by ship owners is that of passenger rights and compensation.
“We have to be very cautious with this issue,” said Barrot, adding “Of course we want to guarantee passenger rights as we have done for air passengers and are doing for rail passengers, but we cannot endanger European competitiveness.”
Commissioner Barrot will present his Erika III package for Maritime Safety on Wednesday.
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