Blueprint for maritime operations

The unveiling last week by the US Coast Guard (USCG) of its Marine Safety Performance Plan is an event to which the entire worldwide shipping community should pay attention - not because of its applicability on the US shipping industry, per se, but because the substance of this draft scheme is a well compiled and comprehensive blueprint for the safe administration of maritime operations that all fledgling maritime nations and the 'less rigid' open registries should be encouraged to strive to emulate.

The content actually contains nothing new, but its format is concise, fresh and innovative as a single plan. Indeed, everything that should be considered is under one umbrella and easily identifiable.

Regarding its own domestic arrangement the USCG has achieved a neat piece of rationalisation of its mission and objectives - a clever piece of recycling that has produced a revised approach to a vital set of standards to which all participants should subscribe with commitment and competence.

Although still in the discussion stage, certainly, the instrument is first and foremost, a document designed for implementation within the ports, coastal waters and inland waterways of the US, as well as for all US-flagged vessels, but the principles set out in the six elements are internationally applicable and the pragmatic approach that has been adopted by the USCG makes it a suitable basis for the development of an international standard.

The US plan first defines its mission and visions with explanations of the programme scope, elements and alignment with other strategies and mandates. Goals and objectives are clearly set out, then followed by challenges and performance initiatives.

The six elements are defined as: Standards Development; Mariner Licensing and Documentation; Compliance; Safety of Recreational Boating; Investigations and Casualty Analysis and Outreach and International Engagement.

Goals

The four goals specified are: Reduction of Maritime Casualties; Improvement of Service to Mariners, Industry and Public; Improvement of Programme Process and Management and Improvement of Human Resource Capabilities. Each goal is further sub-divided into objectives.

The plan actually provides no more than is obtainable from other exponents of maritime excellence, in particular the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (UKMCA) and Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) that have consistently provided high standards to which many follow and that are accepted by many as the best in the world. However, with these sources (and indeed with the USCG) there has always been an inevitable difference of presentation and a tendency for the user to often ask the question whether the answers to a particular issue have been discovered in their entirety. The advent of the Internet and provision of guidance from Administrations via their websites has, in fact, emphasised these differences in presentation.

Moreover, the extent of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) codes, conventions, guidance, and so on, is clearly confusing to many and the prospect of a 'trip' around the IMO's large website is daunting and much less preferable to the sites provided by the USCG, AMSA, UKMCA and others, including the major International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) from which extraction of definitive regulatory information is eminently better than having to 'find it' from the IMO site.

Thus, with the implementation of the USCG Marine Safety Performance Plan (over a five year period) and by its transparency in the structure of its regulatory requirements, the USCG is likely to engender greater understanding from those that seek to apply its standards, over and above an understanding of the structures of the other bodies, despite their parallel excellence.

Indeed, by setting out its structure in this way the USCG is likely to soon be projecting itself as a more 'user-friendly' regulatory authority.

- The writer is UAE-based marine consultant.