The Hindu Business Line : New security code for ships, ports to be ready by May

Going by the present rate of implementation of the code it seems that the industry is likely to wrap up the process by May , two months ahead of the July 2004 deadline.

The code is an upshot of the amendments brought about by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, to the International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea in the wake of 9/11 attacks in New York.

The Directorate-General of Shipping, which has been selected as the designated authority for implementation of the security code, has identified about 200 Indian foreign-going vessels, 12 major ports, 36 minor ports and 10 ship repair yards in the country that would have to comply with the ISPS code.

The IMO had formulated the security code in the light of the increasing threat to ocean-going vessels in the form of mutiny, pilferage and thefts, illegal migrants and stowaways, piracy and armed robbery against ships, illicit drugs smuggling and terrorism.

According to reports, in 2002, more than 12 ships had been hijacked and eight had gone missing, with the number of incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships also going up.

The new ISPS code will be applicable to all passenger ships, high-speed pax crafts, cargo ships on international voyages and port facilities serving such ships.

For implementation of the code, shipping companies will have to identify and train Company Security Officers, assess security requirement of ships, fit additional security equipment, prepare security plan for each ship and obtain plan approval from the respective Governments.

As for the ships, the Ship Security Assessment and Ship Security Programme will have to be prepared and implemented, besides arranging for verification audit of the Ship Security Certificate.

As per the guidelines, the ports will have to assess threat and vulnerability of the facilities, obtain approval of assessment, prepare security plan and obtain statement of compliance.

According to a senior DGS official, the implementation of the code by the Indian ports has been ahead of schedule. The 12 major ports have completed and got the approval for the Port Facility Security Assessment and Port Facility Security Plan (PFSP), with the expected date of compliance for certification being April 30 this year. Of the 36 minor ports that would have to implement the code, 31 have prepared the PFSP, with nine of them already getting the approval and the remaining 22 likely to get it by January 15.

In regard to the 200 ships that would fall under the ISPS purview, the DGS has received 117 Ship Security Plans (SSPs), of which 90 have so far been approved. The DGS has instructed that the remaining 83 ships should submit their SSPs by the end of this month so that these could be approved before February end. The expected date of compliance for certification is May 31.

The official said that training courses for Port Facility Security Officer, Ship Security Officer and Company Security Officer, as required under the ISPS code, has also commenced at DGS approved institutes at all major ports and Delhi, with about 1,000 officers having been trained. Further, about 22 surveyors of DGS and MMD (Mercantile Marine Department) have undergone training for the purpose of conducting verification survey and audit.

For implementation of the code, all ships would have to compulsorily have on board an Automatic Identification System (ADS) and Ship Security Alert (SSA), apart from optional equipment like passenger scanners and vulnerable-overboard scanners. "As far as ADS is concerned, four companies have been granted approval certificate for fitment of the equipment on board the ships, while for the SSA, three proposals are under consideration," the official pointed out.

The cost of implementation of the security code varies from port to port — for example, in the case of JNPT, the cost is estimated to be about Rs 15 crore, while for the other ports it will be lesser because of their size.

For ships also the implementation cost will depend on the risk a ship carried (for example it is higher in the case of a LNG carrier) and the route that the vessel is plying. "Roughly, a ship would have to invest an average of $20,000 to implement the code," according to the official.

As per the cost worked out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the initial cost to implement the code on about 40,000 ships plying different on different routes has been worked out to be $1279 million, apart from a recurring expenditure of $730 per year.