Asian ports race to meet deadline for antiterror law
Asian ports race to meet deadline for antiterror law
Reuters, Singapore
Asia's two busiest ports Singapore and Hong Kong, expect to
meet a July 1 deadline to comply with a worldwide anti-terror law
despite a sluggish response from ship owners and terminal
operators.
Singapore lies across the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest
waterways in the world and where pirates frequently harry ships.
Officials have warned of the risk of militants hijacking a vessel
to use as a floating bomb to attack the island.
"The global shipping industry is not only vast; it is poorly
regulated, frequently beyond the reach of the law and often
secretive in its operations," said Michael Richardson of
Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
However, the authorities at Asia's two big shipping hubs were
confident their facilities and local ship owners would meet the
new requirements.
The tough new security measures adopted by the United Nations
require ships and terminal operators to be security-certified by
the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) or face the
prospect of having cargoes turned away at major ports.
The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore, the
world's largest transshipment port, said 71 port facilities out
of the 123 in the island state required to comply with the
security code have so far submitted plans.
The plans must comply with the UN measures adopted in December
2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington
and only 52 have been approved so far.
"We are confident that most of our members with Singapore-
flagged ships and port facilities will be able to meet the July 1
deadline," said Daniel Tan, executive director at the Singapore
Shipping Association.
PSA Corp, which operates the main port in Singapore, was the
first port facility to meet the requirements of the IMO's
security code.
About 63 percent of Singapore-registered ships, or around
1,000 vessels, have either obtained their security certificates
or have submitted plans for approval, the MPA said.
In Hong Kong, the world's busiest container port, just over 40
percent of shipping companies have submitted security plans so
far, leaving the majority with just over three months to make the
UN deadline.
"Of the 30 facilities in Hong Kong we have the plans of 22 and
aim to have those plans endorsed by the end of March," said Roger
Tupper, deputy director of Hong Kong's Marine Department.
"The outstanding eight plans, we understand, are in the
advance stage, so we don't anticipate any significant slippage.
The IMO's International Ship and Port Facility Security Code
(ISPS) requires training for on-board ship and company security
officers, emergency procedures to deal with terrorist attacks,
and a raft of other measures in ports and coastal terminals to
tighten security.
Worldwide, only around three percent of the 30,000 ships over
500 gross tonnes engaged in international trade have been
certified, according to Lloyd's Register in London, one of the
world's largest merchant ship classification societies.
Concerns are growing that if countries fail to meet the tough
security requirements for ships and ports, major disruptions to
the seaborne trading system could result.
According to the UN over 90 percent of international trade is
carried by sea, including key raw materials such as oil, iron
ore, coal and grain.
A Singapore think tank published a report last month that
estimated 46,000 ships were calling 2,800 ports worldwide.