Enforcement of ship training rules varies by nation

Cruise ship disaster shed light on safety gaps

The cruise ship disaster off Italy’s coast is drawing fresh scrutiny to the gaps in international safety rules and standards – yet there may be little appetite among the world’s major shipping nations and companies for big changes anytime soon.

While an international regime exists for the training of mariners on everything from car ferries to cruise ships, enforcing that is very much a national affair.
Shipping executives, insurers and maritime attorneys say the problem is one of cost – the cost of more comprehensive training schemes like those used in the military. It is a burden that shipping nations and their largest shipping companies do not want to shoulder.

Given that maritime nations and the industry want to promote growth throughout the world, imposing a heavier “level of training and certification would be perceived as being quite onerous,” said David Loh, a maritime lawyer with Cozen O’Connor in New York and a former lieutentant commander in the U.S. Navy.

The training of mariners on commercial ships is governed by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention, known in the industry as STCW, which was drafted in 1978 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body.

The training convention, which was most recently amended in Manila in 2010, sets out rules for certifications of competency, training requirements and methodology.

But the IMO has little authority to enforce those standards. One major part of the convention – Part B – offers guidance “to assist those involved in educating, training or assessing the competence of seafarers” but is not mandatory under international law.

That has created a vacuum, which national coast guards, merchant marine academies and private marine training schools have attempted to fill with varying degrees of success.

At the lowest crew levels, the IMO convention mandates what is known as Basic Safety Training, which is described as a five-day course of firefighting, survival, safety and responsibility, and first aid. Sailors have to renew this and other training standards every five years.

In the United States, the basic safety course is often up to private training schools, which make it easy to become a mariner – one Florida-based outfit sells the package for $950 and requires only a passport, paper, pen and a highlighter.

Captains go a much more rigorous route than passengers or crew – many cruise ship masters start at a maritime academy, like the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, receiving a college-like education before signing on to a ship as a low-level officer.

But even there, certifications are strictly a national affair, with IMO compliance optional.

“You would ask yourself what kind of training did the captain get? Who was supervising him?” said Lewis Eidson, a Florida trial lawyer who frequently represents injured cruise ship passengers.

At a global level, the London-based IMO concedes its lack of enforcement authority, but at the same time said it is ready to act if needed to improve the international safety framework.

Source: Reuters