Maritime safety, what’s changed?

The sinking of the Erika exposed certain failures in terms of maritime safety. The emotion triggered by this environmental disaster led to the implementation, via the European Commission, of an EC-wide plan to prevent such an accident from occurring in the future. 

A series of measures, known as the Erika I, II and III packages, intended to reinforce maritime safety and the safety of oil transport by sea, was then proposed, adopted and gradually implemented.

In the Erika I package of 21 March 2000, the European Commission put forward proposals for immediate action and proposals for future action, which were more complex and would come under a second legislative package. The essential measures are as follows:

• the gradual phasing-out of single hull oil tankers and their replacement by double hull tankers or tankers of equivalent design, by 2015 at the latest
• the tightening and increase in vessel inspections in European ports
• stricter monitoring of classification societies.

The Erika II package of 6 December 2000 focuses in particular on the following measures:

• setting up of a compensation fund to compensate victims of oil spills in European waters up to a limit of €1,000 million through the IOPC Funds
• reinforcement of the monitoring of maritime traffic in European waters, through the introduction of a system capable of locating vessels in real-time
• setting up of a European Maritime Safety Agency based in Lisbon.

The Erika III package of March 2009 focuses on improving the fleet of ships using European ports while ensuring that Member States apply international maritime rules to vessels, mainly through:

• stepping up controls on ships in European ports and banning substandard ships
• the obligation for shipowners to take out insurance in case of environmental damage
• introduction of a traffic monitoring system in particular for vessels travelling long distances
• the designation of appropriate places of refuge that could receive a vessel in distress
• improvement in the rules in force relating to classification societies 
• revision of the compensation for damage of passengers in the event of maritime accidents