Marine Operations Code for Ports: Bulletin No.31 (August 2001)

Bulletin No.31 - August 2001

Port Marine Safety Code

The Port Marine Safety Code was published on 13 March 2000 (ISBN: 1 85112 365 2) and is £10

The publications home page contains information on how and where you can obtain publications produced by the Department for Transport.

NB: No Bulletin was issued during the Election campaign in June 2001.

Implementation

The Department has written to all competent harbour authorities to review expected progress by the end of the implementation period set by the Code at 31 December 2001. Returns so far are most encouraging and there is a general expectation that authorities will implement by the due time.

The Department has resumed contact with a number of small competent harbour authorities with whom it has previously discussed the extent of powers possibly in excess of requirements, including some where implementation seems unlikely to be completed in time. Visits confirm that most of these too are well advanced on implementation, and some that got off to a slow start for special reasons are catching up - but may need some support and a little more time. Only two so far have been found where the required commitment appears not to have been made.

As already noted, the Department will not be prescribing a standard form for implementation reports, since the Code is sufficiently clear. The first has been received.

The Department does not propose to prescribe the form in which authorities announce completion of implementation - the Code is sufficiently clear on what is required; but it is ready to offer advice if needed.

National Occupational Standards

A national occupational standard for pilots has been accredited. BPIT have also used DfEE funding to set up a group which has derived from the standard a model syllabus for maritime colleges: this is almost ready for issue and interest in the final version should be expressed to BPIT. This is about to be released. Work has resumed on the development of assessment criteria for pilotage authorisation - with support from BPIT and Warsash Maritime Centre, including identification of seafaring qualifications which may be taken to demonstrate particular competencies. It is hoped to issue a draft for consultation by the end of October.

Work is also in hand on draft national occupational standards for harbour masters. Work on VTS operators and PEC guidelines is pending.

Guide to Good Practice

The Department has consulted representative bodies on a version of the draft incorporating comments on the published second draft. The consensus is that it should now be finalised for publication by the end of the year substantially in its present form, subject to a final round of consultation with these bodies up to the end of September (the draft prepared for this purpose will not be generally published).

It was considered that the first edition should be reviewed after a year or more in use, when a revision could also reflect completed implementation of the Code and experience of its operation.

The Department would still like to include in the first edition a wide representative range of examples of points throughout the Guide and invites submission of these as soon as possible. Examples submitted so far are predominantly from a few authorities. More have come in but there is scope for many others. The aim of the Guide is to illustrate the diversity of the industry and the range of solutions available for particular matters.

Representative Bodies

A (half-day) meeting of representative bodies is to be convened on 18 October. It will review progress across the Code project but be invited to concentrate on two items:

• the outcome of the monitoring of harbour authorities at the 30 June 'waypoint'
• the final draft of the Guide to Good Practice, and in particular the sufficiency of examples.

Market Access to Port Services Directive

The Department has consulted widely on the draft Directive from the European Commission promoting market access to port services, which includes marine operations services. It is assessing nearly fifty responses and the position to be adopted by the Government. Details of the draft, including all the published documentation, are on the shipping section of the Department's website.

Conferences

BPIT have arranged a conference Modern Ports - Modern Skills at IMarE in London on 12 September: details from: eileen@bpit.co.uk (tel: 01638 616161). There is a dinner the previous evening at which Gwyneth Dunwoody MP and Prof James McConville are expected to speak as guests. Speakers at the Conference represent the NTO National Council, DTLR, Inst of Logistics and Transport and IiP UK: it is a welcome opportunity to raise the profile of port skills and training issues.

The 10th UKHMA conference is at the same venue on 26 October: details from Victoria Collis (IMarE) (tel: 020 7382 2655 - fax: 020 7382 2667) - demand for previous events has been at capacity.

It will be noted that the Department's title, website and e-mail addresses have changed since the General Election. The names in e-mail addresses may also be separated now by a '.', although the former style ('_') is still accepted.