This article first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read other articles, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats
For some time the European Union Commission has courted Interferry to support the development of a voluntary incident reporting system for passenger ships operating out of EU ports. The initiative aims for an extension throughout the passenger sector of reporting systems already in place among individual companies and in countries such as Sweden and Finland. In these nations – under an entirely anonymous process – incident reports from owners are harmonised so that both operators and the Administration have the opportunity to learn valuable lessons.
Several of our members have backed such an improvement in the reporting culture, so in February we were delighted to accept the EU’s invitation to attend their Just Culture seminar in Brussels, which further demonstrated an increasing focus on avoiding incidents.
Over the years this has also been seen in the welcome shift towards a far more proactive approach to maritime safety regulations. Alongside steps by owners to enhance pre-emptive operational practices, we have also seen authorities and research institutions concentrating on how to implement regulations before an accident occurs. The methods used are by nature theoretical and build on more or less reliable statistics and assumptions. This certainly helps to reduce risk and avoid casualties, but anything that complements such theory with real-life seagoing experience is potentially extremely valuable.
One way to do this is to start reporting on near-miss incidents and minor accidents – just as SOLAS provisions currently oblige us to report on bigger accidents. Many companies already have incident reporting in place via their internal management systems, but it is a challenge for an individual company to use this information in a systematic manner.
Another common challenge with incident reporting is the inherent human reluctance to admit to doing something wrong, even if most incidents are due to a series of events rather than a single individual’s actions. This reluctance is evident in all commercial, international and national maritime accident reporting systems.
Clearly there are compelling humanitarian and financial reasons to share knowledge on the causes and mitigation of incidents. The safety record of international ferry operations between OECD countries has been excellent over the past 15 years and Interferry is committed to supporting any measures that help keep it this way.
The Just Culture seminar marked another step in this direction. We joined accident investigation experts, several flag states and other shipping industry representatives to explore the potential for a voluntary incident reporting system. The data would be collated in order to identify any general trends and so reduce the risk of future accidents. Such a system is mandatory in aviation, but it is considered premature to regulate the maritime sector in this way at present.
A prerequisite for any such initiative, mandatory or voluntary, would be an absolute understanding of the no-blame principle – meaning that an individual seafarer should never hesitate to report an incident or near-miss for fear of legal consequences or employer prejudice.
Shipping companies are already obliged to file incident reports under their internal safety systems, but collecting these reports from many operators would obviously enhance awareness of wider trends and enable dedicated experts to devise appropriate recommendations.
Establishing a proactive reporting system outside the operator’s own sphere would be an additional administrative burden both for them and for flag states, but Interferry considers it an idea well worth pursuing so that we can further improve operational safety rather than letting the next accident set the agenda. In fact, voluntary incident reporting is already up and running under the leadership of the Swedish Shipowners Association (foresea.org), so we would not have to start from scratch.
Looking forward, Interferry will continue to engage with the EU Commission to see if a voluntary incident reporting system would add value to both the industry and regulators.
Interferry was closely involved in another recent cooperation initiative as a member of the organising group for European Shipping Week, which took place in Brussels from March 2-6. The event was designed to encourage EU policy makers to engage with shipping operators to discuss key issues in making the European shipping industry more sustainable and globally competitive.
The ro-ro passenger concept is a solution derived in Europe, which provides the cutting-edge expertise behind most of the worldwide ferry industry’s technical development. In short, the European market and European regulators are key to the global ferry industry.
As such, we were particularly happy to organise a visit to a DFDS vessel in Ghent during the event to allow participants a close-up insight into gas scrubber technology. Although policy makers have promoted scrubbers as a method to provide sustainable and affordable maritime transport within Europe, serious technical and financial challenges are associated with this technology, which we were keen to address during the visit.
Looking ahead, safety and the environment will, as ever, be high on the agenda at Interferry’s annual conference. The 40th event in the series takes place in Copenhagen from October 3-7 and we plan to include a detailed update on fire protection, emergency evacuation and crew safety training in the light of recent incidents. We will also review the impact of the low-sulphur regulations introduced in January; invite the latest research reports from leading class societies; and spotlight new market opportunities around the globe.