Doc. 8642
4 February 2000

Maritime transport safety

Motion for a recommendation

presented by Mr Claude Evin and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

      The incidents involving the Erika oil tanker off the French coast and another oil tanker off the Turkish coast point to serious weaknesses in the way international maritime transport is organised. The fact that the Erika was registered in Malta and that it was recently certified by an Italian company clearly underlines the problems posed by flags of convenience and raises questions about whether the existing regulations are being properly implemented.

      Apart from the dangers associated with non-compliance with these regulations, it appears that the two vessels involved in this incident were 24 years old, yet according to statistics from London Maritime Insurers, vessels which are more than 20 years old are four times more likely to be shipwrecked than vessels under fifteen years. There is thus a strong case to be made for tightening up shipbuilding standards and rejuvenating the fleet by banning the oldest vessels from further service.

      The Paris Memorandum adopted in 1982 paved the way for genuine improvements in maritime safety and remains an effective instrument. Even so, it ought to incorporate a number of amendments and, above all, it ought to be more rigorously implemented.

The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers

      — take steps to improve accident prevention by ensuring better safeguards for the quality of vessels and crews and the conditions of employment of seamen, by introducing compulsory testing of knowledge and skills,—

      — encourage a tightening-up of navigational safety by improving on-board communication, positioning facilities and navigational instruments, by increasing surveillance facilities and introducing compulsory signalling for ships entering dangerous zones, the principle of which was accepted by the Maritime Council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in May 1994,—

      — improve transparency at every level by establishing technical approval criteria for classification companies, by publishing a list of states which fail to implement the IMO conventions and recommendations or which fail to implement them properly, by publishing the results of the inspections carried out under the Paris Memorandum, by introducing a single vessel register for all maritime transport professions and authorities.—

— conscious of the risk that businesses will relocate to whichever countries have the most flexible controls and mindful of the fact that there is already a substantial body of regulations, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requests that all of the authorities concerned, states and European Union institute the necessary co-operation to achieve greater consistency in terms of inspection arrangements and to ensure that these arrangements are properly implemented.

Signed : ¹

Evin, France, SOC

About, France, LDR

Bockel, France, SOC

Briane, France, EPP/CD

Derycke, Belgium, SOC

Dhaille, France, SOC

Gibula, Poland, SOC

Gross, Switzerland, SOC

Gürkan, Turkey, SOC

Hoeffel, France, EPP/CD

Jung, France, SOC

Monteiro, Portugal, SOC

Mutman, Turkey, SOC

Neuwirth, France, EDG

Roudy, France, SOC

Solonari, Moldova, SOC

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group