vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #148 / Business / Reading article...

An international group of delegates from around the Pacific Rim ended a four-day conference on ship safety and marine protection August 14 by voting in an agreement placing stricter controls on ship inspection.

Discussion at the event, sponsored by the Vladivostok port, mostly revolved around how often and how many ships should be inspected, said Igor Moiseyev, deputy director of safety at the Ministry of Transport. He said that the diversity of the representatives – ranging from Malaysia to Australia – presented a challenge in getting countries to agree on expenditures for inspection and maintenance. New Zealand and Canada want host countries to inspect 100 percent of their ships, while other countries think 25 percent is enough. And Russia thinks it's more important for governments to concentrate above all on passenger ships, since more human lives are at stake than on tankers.

Nikolai Polunin, deputy director of the Vladivostok Sea Port, said the only major catastrophe involving members of the congress this year was the Nakhodka tanker, which spilled 5,000 gallons of oil into Tokyo Bay. But press reports say there were two major accidents. Many countries are concerned about safety – no matter what the price. Captain Barry McKay of Canada's Marine Safety Branch of Transport said the Nakhodka spill "is in the back of everyone's minds."

He said 70 percent of all ships are uncertified under a United Nations-designed convention called the International Safe Management Code – which every country in the Port State Control Committee agreed to. Some countries openly flout the rules, while others claim they don't have the funds. McKay says the United Nation has funds available for helping nations which lack the money to bring their ships up to international standards.