By Ma. Isabel Ongpin

A high-ranking official of the Maritime Industry Authority, or Marina, admitted Monday to Daily Tribune that they lack the manpower to do regular and continuing checks on the seaworthiness of all vessels plying Philippine waters.

“Sadly, we lack engineers to survey domestic ships. We are really, really undermanned,” the Marina official told this paper after being assured anonymity.

The agency held a press briefing at its headquarters in Port Area, Manila yesterday on the sunken MT Princess Empress which San Miguel Corporation reportedly chartered to ferry 900,000 liters of oil.

Republic Act 9295, a law promoting the development of Philippine domestic shipping, handed Marina the authority to register vessels, issue Certificates of Public Convenience, and accredit domestic shipping operators.

In keeping the mandate, the Marina official said beyond handing CPCs, the agency’s engineers play a critical role in checking continuously that the vessels maintain their seaworthiness.

Marina has an automatic allocation of P25 million each year for the enhancement of domestic shipping, including payment for the engineers, which it has not been receiving since 2020, the official said.

Many Marina workers are on job-order contracts, the source from Marina added on the sidelines of the press briefing.

Also on Monday, former Marina chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad confirmed that MT Princess Empress was classified as an oil tanker by Orient Ship Registry whose accreditation as a “local classification society” had been canceled over corruption issues.

Rampant corruption

Empedrad said bribery had been rampant in classifying domestic vessels so he deferred the accreditation of all classification societies during his time after they were canceled by his predecessor at Marina.

Orient Registry “failed to comply with standards of our Marina Circular,” Empedrad said, adding that Marina took on the job of doing the actual inspection.

“We saw the need (for Marina to do the inspections) because it’s all about making money (for the classification societies) and they were not doing actual inspections,” he said in Filipino.

“That’s why so many ships were sinking, burning and passengers dying,” he added.

Along with other classifying societies, Orient Ship Registry filed an appeal for their reinstatement during the last quarter of 2022, according to Marina sources.

During the press briefing, Marina’s spokesperson, Atty. Sharon Aledo, revealed that the agency’s mother unit, the Department of Transportation, is already investigating whether the vessel’s CPC had been faked.

“If proven that the owner of the MT Princess Empress indeed falsified the CPC documents, then a fine against them will be imposed, or their entire CPC can be revoked. But as of now, the focus is on the containment of the oil spill,” she said.

Aledo said RDC Reield Marine Services, the owner of MT Princess Empress, was suspended from operating since 17 March.

Over the weekend, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said they are investigating possible lapses by Marina and the PCG for allowing the MT Princess Empress to sail at least nine times reportedly without a CPC.

Remulla added that the National Bureau of Investigation is also looking at the possibility that the big insurance paid for the ship and its cargo of oil may have something to do with its sinking. Aledo maintained Marina is cooperating with the DoJ probe.

Meanwhile, PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said Monday they are also opening the agency to the DoJ probe after the Coast Guard presented the CPC of the vessel whose authenticity was later questioned.

Marina is also an attached agency of the DoTr.

“We have also a separate investigation, but we will let other investigating bodies probe,” Balilo said. “We are open to any investigation that will be undertaken.”

The supposed signatory in the CPC, Marina National Capital Region chief Mark Anthony Pascua, has denied he signed the document, noting that his first name was even misspelled.

Ecological damage

Pascua added that he was out of the country when the CPC was supposedly signed. He also pointed out that he was never the director of Marina’s franchising department as stated in the CPC.

Experts warned of massive ecological damage arising from the oil spill, including ill effects on around 24,000 hectares of coral reef.

Environmental groups, like the Protect Verde Island Passages, earlier demanded accountability from both the ship operator and San Miguel for chartering it to ferry oil without checking its credentials.

Over the weekend, an eight-man team from the United States arrived to help the Philippine Coast Guard and the Japanese Coast Guard in cleaning up the vast amount of oil seeping from the vessel.

Inspectors from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), seafarers' unions and French port authorities will be targeting ships flagged to the Cook Islands, Palau, Sierra Leone, and Togo for safety, maintenance and seafarer welfare inspections in the coming eight weeks.

The operation will take place across the Mediterranean Sea. It follows new analysis showing the four flag of convenience registries were responsible for 33 cases of crew abandonment over the past three years. These affecting more than a hundred seafarers, leaving many without pay, food, water, or a way to get home.

The ITF also needed to recover more than US$5.5 million in unpaid wages for seafarers from companies using these four flags.

European Port State Control enforcement agencies issued 5,203 deficiencies or detentions during the same period.

'Substandard shipping in the Mediterranean Sea is driving down seafarers' wages and conditions, its endangering the lives of crew and risking our environment,' ITF Inspectorate Coordinator Steve Trowsdale said.

'These flags take money from shipowners to register ships that other countries wouldn't touch. Many are old vessels and are poorly maintained by their owners. Many of these ships are dangerous and should not be trading.'

'These are now the worst flags operating in the Mediterranean Sea,' said Seddik Berrama, general secretary of Algeria's transport union FNTT and ITF vice president for the Arab World region.

'The world's major Port State Control agency groupings have said these flags are not quality. They have said they are high- or very-high risk. That is unacceptable for crew safety just as it is unacceptable for those of us who rely on a clean sea, like our port communities here in Algeria.'

'Our goal is to expose the substandard shipping examples that we see regularly in our ports. If we are able to spread word of the abuses experienced by crew onboard, which are too often ignored by these flags, then we will send a strong message that substandard shipping is unacceptable.'

Sam Chambers

Up to 1,000 ships flagged to the Cook Islands, Palau, Sierra Leone, and Togo will be targeted for safety, maintenance and seafarer welfare inspections across the Mediterranean Sea in the coming eight weeks by an army of inspectors from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), seafarers’ unions and port authorities.

“Substandard shipping in the Mediterranean Sea is driving down seafarers’ wages and conditions, it’s endangering the lives of crew and risking our environment,” said ITF inspectorate coordinator Steve Trowsdale.

“These flags take money from shipowners to register ships that other countries wouldn’t touch. Many are old vessels and are poorly maintained by their owners. Many of these ships are dangerous and should not be trading,” he said.

The blitz comes off the back of new analysis showing the four flags of convenience registries together accounted for more than 100 crew abandoned in the last two years, with millions of dollars wages not paid to crew by the flags’ shipowners that the ITF then had to recover on seafarers’ behalf.

The ITF inspectors’ efforts will be bolstered in France by the country’s Port State Control agencies, which are organised regionally.

　北朝鮮から韓国に砂を運ぶ事業に参加するため海運業者が船籍を偽装したとされる事件で、大阪海上保安監部は２２日、公正証書原本不実記載などの疑いで大阪市港区の業者を書類送検した。

　調べでは、業者は日本船籍を持つ砂利運搬船（２８２トン）をパナマの会社に売ったのに、船籍を抹消せず虚偽の登記申請をした疑い。

　同保安監部によると、同運搬船は平成１６年から約２年間、北朝鮮・海州から韓国・仁川に砂利を運んでいた。

　１８年８月に福岡海上保安部による立ち入り検査で、長崎県佐世保市の業者の船籍偽装が発覚。その後、同保安監部の調べで大阪市の業者による偽装も明らかになった。佐世保市の業者は今月１９日、船舶法違反などの疑いで既に書類送検されており、海上保安庁はさらに捜査を進めている。

尾道海上保安部（広島県）管内では、毎月5隻程度の中古日本船が海外に転売されています。

このような海外売船は海路、売却先の国へ回航されますが、平成19年8月、尾道で転売されフィリピンに向けて回航中であったカンボジア船小型カーフェリーが、西表島西方海域において台風接近に伴う荒天により転覆、沈没するという事案が発生しました。幸い乗組員8名は巡視船により全員救助されましたが、この事案において、海外売船に対する気象・海象情報の把握や当庁との適切な連絡手段の確保といった事項についての助言・指導を強化する必要があることが浮き彫りとなりました。
　そこで、地方運輸局や税関等の関係官庁との連携を強化するとともに、海外売船を手がける代理店との連絡体制を強化し、尾道発の海外売船への航海上の助言や安全運航の指導を徹底して行うこととなりました。
　訪船指導については、経験とノウハウを積み上げ、より適切な指導を行えるよう努めているところであり、出港後も安全な航海が行えるよう適切なフォローアップを行っています。このような取組みに対し、クルーからお礼の電話をいただくこともあったほか、代理店との信頼関係もさらに深まりました。港内に限らず、島しょ部の造船所からの海外売船情報も提供されるようになりました。
　海外売船の訪船指導は、尾道海上保安部交通課の業務の大きな柱となりつつあり、海外売船の回航地までの安全運航に大きく貢献しています。

　海難事故などの原因となる欠陥船をなくすため、国連の国際海事機関（ＩＭＯ）が、今年から加盟国に出向いて、各国の検査制度を監査する取り組みを始める。外国船の検査は寄港国で実施していたが、日本近海で北朝鮮やロシア船の原油流出事故などが相次いだことから、日本の提唱で「攻めの姿勢」に転換。各国の検査体制をチェックすることで、欠陥船を放置させない体制づくりを整えたい考えだ。

　新制度は、日本が中心となって昨年１１月にロンドンで開かれたＩＭＯ総会に共同提案され、実施が決議された。

　７月から始まる試験監査には、日本と共同提案した欧米諸国や韓国など約３０カ国が参加予定。北朝鮮やロシアはＩＭＯに加盟しているが、今回の試験監査への参加の意向は示していない。将来的には加盟国すべてを強制的に監査したい意向だ。

　船舶の安全基準は、ＩＭＯが定めた海上人命安全条約（ＳＯＬＡＳ条約）で定められており、基準を守らせるのは母国の責任だ。

　日本の場合、この条約に沿って船舶安全法や国土交通省令で詳細な基準を明示し、自国船を定期検査している。一方、国内に寄港した外国船については、国土交通省が船舶安全検査（ＰＳＣ）を実施、基準を満たさない場合は改善を命じる仕組みになっている。

　しかし、老朽船や欠陥船は一向に減らない。９７年に日本海で重油流出事故を起こしたロシアタンカーのナホトカ号は建造後２６年たち、老朽化が著しかった。０２年に茨城県沖で起きた北朝鮮貨物船の重油流出事故を契機に国交省が北朝鮮船へのＰＳＣを強化した結果、貨客船の万景峰（マンギョンボン）号などで欠陥が相次いで見つかった。

　このため、「各国が自国の船をきちんと検査できるようになれば海難事故は減らせる」（国交省海事局）として、新制度を提唱した。

以下省略 01/19/04 (朝日新聞）

　◇きょう半年、ホッキ漁控え地元は困惑

　宮城、福島両県境沖で貨物船「ＪＡＮＥ号」が座礁してから、１７日で半年を迎える。油流出による漁業被害を招き、撤去作業は大幅にずれ込んだままで、船は現在も沖合に放置されている。撤去を担う米サルベージ会社は来月の作業再開を約束したが、海が荒れる冬季を控え、地元では「船体が放棄されるのでは」と不安も募っている。撤去や補償に向けた課題を探った。【豊田英夫、塚本弘毅、伊藤絵理子】

　◆座礁続く

　ＪＡＮＥ号（４６４３トン）はカリブ海の国セントビンセント・グレナディーン船籍の貨物船で、船主はロシアの「プーリコム」社。石炭５２８４トンを運び、サハリンから相馬港へ向かう途中の４月１７日未明、宮城県山元町の磯浜漁港付近の浅瀬に乗り上げた。

　同船は燃料の重油など油６６トンを積み、座礁直後から油膜が海面に広がった。第２管区海上保安本部は５月、船主側に対し、改正海洋汚染防止法に基づき初の船体撤去命令を出した。来年５月１０日まで撤去しない場合、最高１０００万円の罰金を科すことができる。

　現在、油流出は止まったが、同保安本部は隔日で航空機と船艇を出動させ、船体状況と油流出の監視を続けている。

　◆作業の遅れ

　当初は７～８月にも船は撤去される予定だったが、事前の積み荷抜き取りにも手間取った。米サルベージ会社「タイタン社」は９月１０日、「台風シーズンに入り作業を安全に継続できない」と作業中断を通告。福島、宮城両県知事などは連名で同日、早期撤去の要請書を同社に提出した。

　地元のいらだちは頂点に達している。相馬双葉漁協は「きれいな海岸に、目の上のたんこぶだ。１２～１月は低気圧で海上は荒れる。１１月に来て撤去の準備調査をしても、本当の撤去はいつになるのか」と憤りを隠さない。宮城県漁業協同組合の山元支所も「１２月上旬からは宮城県がブランド化を目指す『ホッキ貝』の収穫が始まるので心配」と訴えている。

　同保安本部海上災害対策室は「必ず戻って来ると言うので信用するしかない。自然相手なので、状況をみて有効な手段をとってもらうほかない」と話し、同社に一任せざるを得ないのが現状だ。

　◆漁業被害

　油の流出は、当時最盛期だったコウナゴ漁を直撃した。地元漁協は現在、弁護士と相談しながら被害額の算定を進めており、オイルフェンス設置費なども含め両県で数億円に上るとみられる。

　日本の港に入る１００トン以上の船舶は「船主責任保険」（Ｐ＆Ｉ保険）への加入が義務づけられている。ＪＡＮＥ号の保険代理会社「コスモミューチュアル・ジャパン」（東京都港区）によると、保険でカバーできるのは最大約１４００万ドル（約１６億円）で、漁業補償には船主責任制限額の最大３億数千万円が充てられる予定。同社は「現状では保険ですべてまかなえるが、撤去の経費が今後増えると、補償に回す保険金が減る可能性もある。船主側が追加負担できるかは分からない」とし、先行きは不透明だ。

　◆外交問題発展も

　福島県は９月１９日、外務省に対し、早期撤去と油の防除対策をロシア側に働きかけるよう要請した。同省欧州局ロシア課は「意向は在ロシア大使館を通じロシア政府に伝えた」としながらも、「ロシア側の反応は現段階でコメントできない」という。

　国際海洋法に詳しい栗林忠男・慶応大名誉教授は「座礁船は海上の障害物で、船籍国には実質的な力がなく、当然船主が撤去すべきだ。船主が応じなければ、政府がロシア政府に対し、船主に撤去を指導するよう粘り強く要請するしかない」と語る。撤去がさらに遅れれば、外交上の圧力を求める声が高まりそう。

　日本海沿岸に油濁被害を招いた９７年のロシア船籍タンカー「ナホトカ号」油流出事故では、国や地方自治体、漁業関係者や観光業者などが、油濁損害賠償保障法（現・船舶油濁損害賠償保障法）に基づき、船主や保険会社を相手に提訴。随時和解が成立し、総額約２６１億円が支払われた。

IN an update on an initiative it started in 2003 to help improve the performance of flag states on the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) “blacklist” the International Association of Classification Societies has named four countries which have failed to make any progress. Algeria, Honduras, Libya and Syria are categorised as “flags contacted but where there is no progress”.

IACS says the programme was first introduced in response to the Cyprus Administration’s proactive efforts to improve its flag state performance.

The IACS scheme involves small groups of experts from the member societies of IACS working with the Flag States on enhanced survey programmes for ships entering into the register and for remedial work following Port State Control detentions. It is designed to provide lasting improvement in the status of the Flag State.

The scheme has now been extended to cover additional flag states which authorize IACS member societies and now find themselves on the Paris or Tokyo MOU black lists and those with high targeting points on the USCG’s PSC program.

An IACS statement says: “Port state detention statistics are an important quality indicator and by focusing on the problems that cause detentions the IACS initiative has raised safety levels by encouraging both owners and Flag States to focus on the key issues.”

It adds: “The latest statistics show that flags which have responded positively to the IACS proposal have made the biggest improvements in performance, in particular the Cyprus Flag which has continually improved and is now on the white list for both the Paris and Tokyo MOU’s, as well as Malta Flag which moved to the white list of the Paris MOU.

Azerbaijan, Belize, Cambodia and Cyprus are described as “flags which have responded positively to the IACS proposal” while Egypt, Morocco, Panama and Turkey have been contacted and improvement proposals are either under discussion or awaiting implementation.”

IACS says it is considering extending the scheme to about 10 more flag states.