Seminar on shipping matters and needed laws
View(s):The Company of Master Mariners of Sri Lanka (CMMSL) a professional organisation of
Sri Lankan Ship Captains, jointly with the Organisation of Professional Associations of
Sri Lanka (OPA) held a seminar in Colombo last week on the theme “IMO Conventions and Maritime Regulations in Sri Lanka”.
There were two presentation of which one by Capt. Upul Peiris, currently a government ship surveyor of the Merchant Shipping Secretariat. He pointed out there are six new important conventions the country is expected to accede to in the near future – Air Pollution (MARPOL Annex 6), Ballast Water Management which restricts discharge of seawater water carried in ‘Ballast Tanks’ by ships during ballast voyage (no cargo voyage) from one port to another introducing invasive marine species, Limitation of Liability on Maritime Claims, Bunker Conventions on marine fuel supplies, Oil pollution Prevention Response and Control and Hazardous Noxious Substances protocol, according to the organisers who issued a media release on the seminar.
The other speaker Chandaka Jayasundera, a specialist in Commercial Law with special emphasis on Maritime Law Transport Law and Intellectual Property law, suggested the need for a New Maritime Regulatory Regime in Sri Lanka to deal with ship regulations, which the country is lacking for a very long time since the time the Merchant Shipping Act no 52 was enacted in 1971.
He pointed out that although the country has signed as many as 20- odd IMO conventions and some more to be signed, hardly any of them are properly legislated in the country to be law.
Except in one convention related to seafarers training and certifications, no regulations are ever promulgated to execute the required provisions of those conventions even if they were made laws in the country. He also revealed that the Director General of Merchant Shipping is making a lot of effort to bring in the required maritime laws and promulgate regulations the country has lacked in the last 46 years but apparently is still encountering difficulties.