Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2004)

Maritime Security

Port Pile Up?

There are less than three months until July 1 ... Do you know where your International Ship

Security Certificate (ISSC) is?

Dennis L. Bryant, Senior Maritime

Counsel at the law firm of Holland & Knight, Washington, D.C., is a contributing editor of MR/EN.

If not, you are in grave danger of having your ship delayed or even denied entry into port in the United

States and various other countries.

The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code comes into effect on July 1 and full enforcement of the U.S. Coast Guard regulations under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) also commences. Ships engaged in interna- tional commerce and port facilities that they utilize are required to have fully implemented relevant provisions by that date. Port states, particularly the United States, have announced plans to vigorously enforce the ISPS

Code and related provisions as of that date. The

Commandant of the Coast Guard stated that every ship subject to the ISPS Code will be boarded upon its ini- tial arrival in the United States to check for maritime security implementation.

Problems are manifest. Classification societies, which serve as Recognized Security Organizations (RSOs) for most flag administrations, have indicated

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Circle 208 on Reader Service Card 14 that relatively few ships have submitted draft ship security plans for review and approval. It will be vir- tually impossible for all the security plans that are going to be submitted at the last moment to be reviewed with the level of scrutiny appropriate to sat- isfy the letter and spirit of the ISPS Code. Many ships will not have an ISSC on July 1. Others will have interim certificates or certificates that have been issued with minimal review of the underlying security plan.

A certificate is not supposed to be issued until the ship has fully implemented its approved security plan.

Given the rush that is occurring as the deadline approaches, it is unclear how there will be sufficient time to complete the required implementation process.

The process includes not only dissemination of the approved plan, but also training of all persons on board with duties and responsibilities under the plan.

Even if your ship has an ISSC, a port state control officer may still exercise control measures if there are clear grounds for believing that the condition of the ship does not correspond substantially with the partic- ulars of the certificate. Let's assume that a U.S. Coast

Guard boarding officer comes aboard the ship without being challenged and without being required to pro- duce appropriate identification. In that case, the boarding officer may determine that access control measures on the ship are inadequate. The ship may then be delayed while the master and the ship security officer demonstrate to the satisfaction of the boarding officer that the ship security plan has been fully imple- mented.

Next question — Does your ship have its

Continuous Synopsis Record (CSR). The answer is almost definitely "No." While the requirement for ships to have continuous synopsis records was adopt- ed by the IMO-sponsored maritime security confer- ence in December 2002, the Assembly Resolution establishing the form of the CSR was not adopted until December 5, 2003 (that is not a typo). It took

IMO almost a full year to decide on the format of a simple form that shows basic information such as the date the ship was registered with the flag state; the name and address of the owner; the name of the clas- sification society: the name of the entity that issued the

ISM certificate; and the name of the entity that carried out the verification of the ISSC. Flag administrations are only now issuing directives to their ships on how to apply for a CSR. For instance, the U.S. Coast Guard issued its Notice in this regard on February 27, 2004.

How ships are expected to have a required govern- ment-issued form on board by July I in light of the bureaucratic delay evidenced to date is beyond me.

More questions

Is your ship fitted with the automatic identification system (AIS)?

Is it permanently marked with its identification num- ber on the stern or on either side amidships and on

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