NATIONAL MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY

Level 2, Pacific MMI Insurance Building P.O Box 668, Port Moresby

National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Phone: (675) 321 1244 Fax: (675) 321 0873

PRESS RELEASE

Date of release: 7 February, 2013

One year after the MV Rabaul Queen Tragedy and implementation of COI Recommendations

A year on from the tragedy of the MV Rabaul Queen, we take pause to remember those that

perished and our thoughts and prayers also go out to the surviving victims and the families of

those who have passed on, and of those living.

The anniversary of any tragedy will always be remembered, to this end the National Maritime

Safety Authority (NMSA) has taken the opportunity to reflect and undertake discussions on what

has been done, and what has yet to be done to ensure that no passenger shipping tragedy of this

degree is allowed to happen again.

NMSA would therefore like to take this opportunity to highlight some actions that have been taken

in the five months since the Commission of Inquiry Report was made public on 7 September 2012;

to address 29 of the 34 recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry:

Recommendations 1 to 7

These recommendations relate to deficiencies in the current legislations and propose a review

to ensure that PNG maritime legislations are consistent with, or exceed, the current

international merchant shipping standards. Some omissions in our existing Act, such as a

provision for coastal passenger ships category should be included to ensure that the best

international standards for passenger ship design, safety, stability and safety management are

contained in the new legislation. Additionally, the proposals provide for enhanced safety

measures to be incorporated in terms of increased life rafts capacities and number of life-

jackets for passengers.

The National Maritime Safety Authority has been in dialogue with its partners at the

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority

(AMSA) seeking support through the Technical Cooperation departments of these two

organisations. As Maritime Legislation is a specialised area of law and therefore requires the

expertise of persons with background in international best practice shipping operations and

knowledge of International Maritime Conventions, this expertise will be provided by the IMO

Consultant and AMSA.

The outcome has been positive with both these organisations agreeing to assist in the

review/rewriting of PNG’s maritime legislations, principal and subordinate; through their

technical cooperation programs. NMSA will be seconding one legal officer to be part of the

NATIONAL MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY

Level 2, Pacific MMI Insurance Building P.O Box 668, Port Moresby

National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Phone: (675) 321 1244 Fax: (675) 321 0873

team and the Authority will be looking forward to the support of the Office of the Legislative

Council (OLC) in the final drafting of such legislation. This work commenced on 18

December 2012 when a meeting of the team convened in Port Moresby.

Recommendation 9 and Recommendation 15

The Recruitment of sufficient number of qualified and experienced surveyors/inspectors to

meet the legislative responsibilities and functions to be able to survey/inspect this many ships,

NMSA needs more surveyors/inspectors. The CoI Report has recommended that NMSA

needs 17-20 additional Inspectors to adequately cover all the vessels.

NMSA has in its PNG Ships Register approximately 700 vessels. Also, about 100 foreign

registered ships call into PNG ports every month.

A revised structure has been endorsed by the NMSA Board and approved by the Salaries &

Conditions Monitoring Committee (SCMC) has seen the approved increased staff ceiling from

55 to 125 positions. Under the new structure, there are 17 vacant positions for inspectors and

surveyors of vessels.

NMSA has been advertising to recruit ship inspectors and surveyors for the past few months;

unfortunately, not many responses have been received so far as the Authority is competing

with the private sector (shipping industry and major development projects) for personnel with

relevant marine qualifications and experience.

Recommendations 20 & 22

Recommendation 20 proposes that the Government of Papua New Guinea should immediately

allocate sufficient funds to the NMSA to enable the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre

(MRCC) in Port Moresby to be properly manned, equipped and resourced so that it can

operate on a 24/7 basis.

It may be recalled that PNG MRCC was found to be grossly inadequate in its contribution to

the search and rescue of survivors from the ill-fated Rabaul Queen incident. It was the

Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Search & Rescue (SAR) Centre which provided much

assistance with man and equipment which led to the rescue of 246 survivors. PNG has a

coastline of about 17,000 kilometres and a sea area of approximately 2.3 million square

kilometres of ocean. It needs to have a fully operational Search and Rescue centre if it were to

save its people from perishing at sea as well as meet its international obligations.

To this end, NMSA had approached its counterpart in Australia (AMSA) and have instigated a

SAR Gap Analysis Study which was funded by AusAID under the PNG-Australia MOU on

Transport Sector Cooperation. The said study was undertaken by two AusSAR experts from

22nd

September until 6th

October 2012. An Interim Report of this study proposes a number of

NATIONAL MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY

Level 2, Pacific MMI Insurance Building P.O Box 668, Port Moresby

National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Phone: (675) 321 1244 Fax: (675) 321 0873

Medium to Short Term (<12 months) and Long Term (between 1 year and 3 years) measures

to establish a fully encompassing Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) combining all

three transport modes – maritime, aviation and land.

Recommendation 21

Relates to a recommendation that the Government should invest in the necessary country-wide

communications infrastructure to ensure that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre

(MRCC) and Coastal Radio Service (CRS) have the ability to communicate with all ships

operating within PNG’s SAR region on a 24/7 basis.

With AusAID assistance of PGK4.9 million, the Global Maritime Distress & Safety System

(GMDSS) is currently being installed in Port Moresby; this requirement under PNG’s

international obligations, will establish communication channels between NMSA and Coastal

Radio Station to all ships > 100 tonne that are required to be equipped with GMDSS.

For operators of small crafts (< 10 metre), which will be regulated under the provisions of the

Small Craft Act 2011, 19 Very High Frequency (VHF) transmitters are installed around the

country for easy communications. Funding for these VHF transmitters have been provided by

the Asian Development Bank under its loan for Community Water Transport Programme

(CWTP).

Recommendations 8, 10 –14, 16 - 19, 23, 27,28, 29,30,31, 32, 33 and 34

These are mainly administrative and management matters that fall within the responsibilities

and scope of work for NMSA including further consultation with government and partner

organisations. However, in order to legislate and implement some of these recommendations,

in particular those dealing with improvement of safety of vessels, passengers and cargo, there

is a need to empower the management of the Authority further; this may include powers

delegated to the General Manager/CEO of the Authority to issue Marine Orders and Circulars

to Shipping which will have effect of law. The necessity to implement the above

recommendations is being looked at under Recommendations 1-7 – Review of the PNG

Merchant Shipping Act.

As we look to the past and all that has been done so far to address maritime safety, it is our hope

that we look to the future with renewed vigour and a common goal for open dialogue between

NMSA, families of the victims and survivors, and members of the public as to how we can as a

nation respond to the tragedy of MV Rabaul Queen.

Authorised by the General Manager/ CEO of NMSA

Mr. Chris K. Rupen