A report from findings of ferry operations in the Philippines aims to help developing nations
By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Interferry has begun a project to improve ferry safety around the world by studying improvements in operations in the Philippines. The FerrySafe project aims to help other developing nations through a ‘lessons learned’ report.
The FerrySafe project team will hold one-hour meetings with a range of stakeholders in the Philippines, including shipowners, architects, shipyards, insurers and the coastguard authority, to learn how fatal incidents have been reduced from around 1,000 in 2008 to almost zero in recent years. There will be a second round of meetings in summer, which will include visits to shipyards and operators in the Cebu area.
FerrySafe furthers Interferry’s engagement with safety issues on domestic routes in developing nations, which account for 93% of 1,200 fatalities each year. The project was created by the association’s domestic safety committee and is funded by a UK charity, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which supports safety-enhancing education and research in transport and engineering.
“The ambition is to take the findings from our Philippines research to other countries and facilitate their implementation,” said Johan Roos, director of Regulatory Affairs at Interferry. “This will require additional external funding and cooperation. The largest improvement potential is found in south-east Asia and Africa, but – apart from the funding – we would need political support from the respective countries as well as the International Maritime Organization (IMO).”
Preliminary findings will be presented at Interferry’s 44th conference in London in October, with the final report due by 2020. The project’s findings will be distributed to other nations through Interferry’s involvement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on ferry safety and its consultative status at the IMO.