MSC Approves Mooring Measures

The International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has approved measures to improve the safety for seafarers when mooring ships.

Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) said in a press release that between 5 and 14 June, MSC met in London to discuss current issues related to the safety and security of global shipping.

Part of the agenda was dedicated to the draft measures for safe mooring operations as prepared by the SDC sub-committee based on proposals originally submitted by Denmark.

The measures approved by the Committee entails an amended SOLAS regulation and guidelines intended to improve the current situation where accidents and unsafe work situations frequently happen during mooring operations of ships.

The measures will now be circulated to Member States with a view to adoption at the next Committee meeting in 2020.

In addition to safe mooring operations, the Committee also discussed fuel oil safety issues in relation to the entry into force of the 0.50 pct. sulphur limit on 1 January 2020. This resulted in an MSC resolution on recommending amongst other things voluntary reporting of cases where oil fuel fails to meet safety point requirement set out in the SOLAS convention, as well as a work plan for the Committees further work on fuel oil safety issues in 2020 and 2021.

Furthermore, in continuing the ongoing work on autonomous ships, MSC approved interim guidelines for MASS trails with a view to assist IMO Member States, industry and other parties involved in testing autonomous ships in a safe and efficient way.

In connection to the meeting, the Danish delegation held a presentation on cybersecurity in which a representative from Maersk providing the Committee with their experiences of the 2017 cyberattack.