The UK Marine Bill

September 6th, 2008 by JCB
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Just as I was finalising the copy for this issue I received the Government’s Select Committee report on the draft Marine Navigation Bill (HC 709)
With respect to the pilotage elements, the committee Chair, Louise Ellman MP, stated
“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill. It is a welcome package of measures which will help to improve port safety, clarify the role of the General Lighthouse Authorities, and provide the statutory basis for the implementation of the Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks. But we have a number of concerns including proposals to change the Pilotage Exemption Certificate and the absence of a mandatory set of port safety standards in place of the current voluntary Code, something we have long urged them to do.”
As well as calling for mandatory port safety standards, the Committee makes the following recommendations:

-The Bill should specify that only “bona fide” members of a ship’s crew should be allowed to hold a Pilotage Exemption Certificate, which allows them to take the ship into a port or harbour without taking a pilot on board.

-The Government should implement proposals in the draft Bill to introduce national qualifications for pilots and harbour masters, but with a degree of flexibility to acknowledge the very different circumstances of different ports.

As you will have read elsewhere in this magazine, these were the fundamental issues over which the UKMPA had serious concerns and the concerns have been revealed to be fully justified. In an immediate response to the above statement, the UK Major Ports Group (UKMPG) issued a circular to their members which included the following statement “ DfT remain committed to keeping the PMSC a non statutory document though one which is properly applied by all ports”. This is interesting because at the time of going to press the consultation period for the Bill was still open so it is difficult to understand how the UKMPG could have already overturned the TSC’s recommendations and obtained such a commitment from the DfT? Your elected representatives are, as usual, “on the case”!

JCB