Identification systems urged for ships plying Malacca Strait
Identification systems urged for ships plying Malacca Strait
SINGAPORE (AFP): The International Maritime Organization (IMO) called Thursday for ships passing through the narrow Malacca Strait to be equipped with an automatic identification system to prevent accidents.
IMO Secretary-General William O'Neil said ships fitted with transponders could give information such as their name, position, speed and course when asked under a mandatory reporting system being implemented in the strait.
The London-based IMO is the United Nations watchdog for maritime safety and prevention of pollution from ships.
A new mandatory ship reporting system was introduced in the Malacca Strait in December 1998 but its effectiveness depended very much on the compliance by the estimated 30,000 vessels that ply the busy waterway every year, he said.
The system was implemented by the littoral states Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
"There is always the possibility that some vessels will not report in, which can result in their not being readily identified and contacted in the event of an emergency," O'Neil told an international conference here.
The two-day conference on navigational safety and pollution control on the Straits of Malacca and Singapore was attended by officials from the littoral states as well as top shipping executives, acdemics and maritime policy officials.
The 520-mile (836-kilometer) accident-prone Malacca Strait lies between the west coast of Thailand and Malaysia on the northeast, and the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia on the southwest.
Together with the Singapore Strait, it forms the main seaway connecting the Indian Ocean with the China Sea. It provides a vital link between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and is the shortest route for oil tankers trading between the Persian Gulf and East Asian countries.
O'Neil said the safe navigation of ships in the Malacca and Singapore straits was vital to cope with an escalation in traffic to about 40,000 to 50,000 vessels per year along that international waterway.
The IMO chief also suggested that shore authorities be given powers to issue orders to ships to help them avoid mishaps at sea.
Under existing regulations, shore authorities have the right to contact ships in potential distress and warn of the danger ahead but they have no powers to compel a change of course.
"I think that we should ask ourselves if the time has not come to question this approach and to empower the shore authorities, in certain cases, to order ships to take whatever action necessary to avoid an accident," he said.
O'Neil said one of the oldest traditions of the sea -- that the authority of the ship's master should be paramount -- "may no longer be valid in a world that is becoming dominated by new technology.
"At locations where reporting in is mandatory -- and is obeyed -- the shore authorities know the position of all vessels, their identity, track and speed.
"By observing their radar screen, they can, for example, determine that if a ship continues on its present course it will run aground in 10 minutes or that it is on a collision course with another craft," he said.