1.1 By the kind invitation of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the ninth seminar for port State control officers in the Asia-Pacific region was held from 11 to 13 September 2002 in Brisbane, Australia. The seminar was organized by the Tokyo MOU Secretariat and the Nippon Foundation kindly provided the fund for the Seminar.

　

1.2 Participants from Authorities of Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Fiji, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Solomon Islands, United States Coast Guard, Vanuatu and Vietnam attended the seminar. In addition, several local port State control officers participated in the seminar as observers.

　

1.3 The list of participants is attached as annex 1 to this report.

　

1.4 The main subjects considered by the seminar were introduction of recent development in IMO on regulations relating maritime safety and pollution prevention, activities of the Tokyo MOUS bulk carrier safety, guidelines for the responsibility assessment of the recognized organization, electronic charts and port State control on STCW95 requirements.

　

1.5 The programme of the seminar is set out in annex 2 to the report.

　

2.1 The seminar was chaired by Mr. Mitsutoyo Okada, Deputy Secretary, Tokyo MOU Secretariat.

　

2.2 At the opening, Mr. Yoshio Sasamura, Secretary, Tokyo MOU Secretariat, firstly welcomed participants to the seminar and thanked the Nippon Foundation for kindly providing the fund and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for hosting and making excellent arrangements for the seminar. Mr. Sasamura stressed the importance of the seminar and requested participants to join in the discussions actively to ensure the success of the seminar.

　

2.3 On behalf of the host, Mr. Mick Kinley, Manager, Ship Inspections, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, also welcomed participants for coming to Australia and visiting the city of Brisbane. Further, he encouraged participants to make best use of this opportunity to discuss and exchange views and to share experience and expertise with among participants in order to promote closer co-operation and harmonization on port State control activities in the region.

　

3.1 Mr. Yoshio Sasamura, Secretary, Tokyo MOU Secretariat, made introduction to the seminar on the recent development in IMO on regulations relating to maritime safety and pollution prevention. After a short explanation on organization of IMO, status of IMO conventions and procedures for adoption and entry into force of conventions and amendments, Mr. Sasamura informed participants of the recent development/amendments on regulations relating to maritime safety and pollution prevention which include:

　

　

3.2 Mr. Mitsutoyo Okada, Deputy Secretary, Tokyo MOU Secretariat, made a presentation on the activities of the Tokyo MOU. Mr. Okada firstly explained to the participants the general information, membership and organization of the Tokyo MOUS Then he introduced the works of the Port State Control Committee, which included the important issues taken up and PSC procedures and guidelines adopted by the Committee, implementation and arrangement of the technical co-operation programmes. He also presented the results of port State inspections conducted by the Tokyo MOU Authorities, in comparison with the PSC data by the Paris MOU, Via del Mar and the US Coast Guard.

　

3.3 Mr. Biant Warna, Senior Marine Inspector, Transport Canada, provided a lecture on the subject of bulk carrier safety. In his lecture, Mr. Warna, after showing the statistics regarding bulk carriers accidents, explained the scenario and causes of bulk carriers' accidents, i.e.:

　

　

3.4 Mr. Warna further gave explanations on problem areas of bulk carriers, PSC inspections on bulk carriers (i.e. checking of ship documents and survey reports, deck structure, cargo holds, top side tanks, forepeak tank and structural repairs) and requirements on bulk carrier safety measures contained in Chapter XII of SOLAS.

　

3.5 Mr. Mick Kinley, Manager, Ship Inspections, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, made a presentation on implementation of the guidelines for responsibility assessment of the recognized organizations (RO). Mr. Kinley provided a brief introduction on the background and reasons for introducing and implementation of the RO guidelines firstly. Then he explained to the participants the application of each of the criteria provided in the guidelines and informed the seminar of the primary statistics regarding RO responsibility during period of January - July 2002 prepared by the APCIS Manager.

　

3.6 Mr. Kinley further introduced three cases for assessing responsibility of RO and led the discussions thereon.

　

3.7 Mr. Robert Ward, Head of External Relations, Australian Hydrographic Services, Royal Australian Navy, delivered a comprehensive presentation on Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). Mr. Ward provided the participants with introductions and explanations on the following issues:

　

　

3.8 Mr. John Briggs, Manager, Ship Operations and Qualifications, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, made a presentation on PSC on STCW95 requirements. Mr. Briggs firstly provided the background and general information about the STCW95. Further he explained to the participants the current situation regarding implementation of the STCW95 requirements, issues on certificate of competency and flag State endorsement/certificate of recognition and actions to be taken by PSC officers.

　

3.9 Mr. Mick Kinley introduced to the seminar PSC activities under his Authority which include:

　

　

3.10 Mr. Ning Zheng, Technical Officer, Tokyo MOU Secretariat, made a short presentation regarding PSC inspection reporting. Mr. Ning stressed the importance of ensuring completeness, correctness and accuracy of information during inspection reporting and explained the items contained in the inspection report forms to which PSC officers need to pay attentions.

　

4.1 The question and answer session was arranged at the end of each presentation.

　

4.2 During the morning session of the second day, exchange of views on PSC was conducted under the leadership of Mr. Kinley of Australia. The issues discussed were related to:

　

　

4.3 After the presentation on STCW95 requirements, participants were assigned several cases for discussion by groups. The cases covered certification, watchkeeping and operational competency. The case study session was chaired by Mr. John Briggs.

　

4.4 Further, participant of each Authority was invited to inform the meeting of primary results of inspection regarding enforcement of STCW95 requirements in August. Based on the figures provided by each Authority, it showed that implementation of the STCW95 had been improved as the number of detentions due to non-compliance with the STCW95 and number of crew members without STCW95 certificate or flag State endorsement had reduced.

　

4.5 On the third day, another case study session on the ISM Code was organized. After a brief introduction by Mr. Kinley, participants were divided into four groups to discuss two cases. The plenary discussion was led and summarized by Mr. Briggs.

　

5.1 All participants expressed that the ninth seminar was most useful, informative and successful as they had gained knowledge and obtained useful information from the seminar. They also indicated that the seminar provided them with the best opportunity for exchange views, experiences and expertise through conversation and discussions, in particular the case study sessions, and such would promote co-operation and harmonization on port State control in the region.

　

5.2 For future seminars, participants provided the following suggestions:

　

6.1 As closing of the seminar, Mr. Yoshio Sasamura, Secretary, thanked participants for their active participation and co-operation and encouraged them to spread the knowledge and information acquired from the seminar to their fellow colleagues in the home countries so that the seminar would be more effective and successful.

　

6.2 The meeting expressed sincere appreciation to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for hosting and providing excellent facilities and hospitality for the seminar. The meeting also expressed gratitude to the Nippon Foundation for providing the fund and the Secretariat for organizing this successful seminar.

　

6.3 The seminar was closed on 13 September 2002 at 1200 hours.

　

6.4 A reception was hosted by the Secretariat on 11 September and a welcome dinner on board Kookaburra River Queen was arranged by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on 12 September. In the afternoon of 13 September, participants were invited to attend a visit to the port of Brisbane. Participants found these activities most enjoyable and interesting.