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ICS vents frustration at Concordia accident investigation delay

ICS vents frustration at Concordia accident investigation delay
London: The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) highlighted  "seemingly inadequate obligations” on flag states to submit the results of accident investigations, at its board meeting in London this week.

The criticism comes after Costa Concordia tragedy passed its one year anniversary in January with no sign of the results of a full maritime casualty report from the ship's flag state, Italy. 

Failure to file maritime casualty reports, from which important safety lessons could be earned, is a common problem with other flag states in less high profile incidents according to ICS’s board, who stressed that they welcome the measures that have so far been taken forward relating to passenger safety and evacuation procedures in the wake of the Concordia incident.

“The response of IMO so far has been measured and reasonable and we have been impressed by the commitment amongst governments to avoid knee jerk reactions,” said ICS chairman Masamichi Morooka. “But IMO is under increasing pressure to take forward far more radical steps in advance of Italy publishing the complete results of its accident investigation, which it has still singularly failed to do. Given the seriousness of the disaster, which happened over a year ago, this failure by Italy is simply unacceptable. We still have no official understanding of what the underlying causes were with respect to an accident that really should never have happened.”

The ICS board agreed that, in discussion with governments, ICS will take forward proposals to IMO as to how the obligations of flag states with respect to casualty reports might be strengthened. These will probably draw on the obligations that the EU now places upon its member states, with a view to seeing if these might be applied on a global basis. 

 

TAGS: Regulation