Small craft safety lacking

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By HELEN TARAWA
PAPUA New Guinea has outstanding issues with the enforcement of the Small Craft Act and is yet to meet safety requirements for boats, ferries and other vessels, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Malakai Tabar says.
Tabar told The National that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) carried out an audit in September last year which revealed a lot of things that needed to be put in place.
“This time five years ago, people in five provinces including West New Britain, East New Britain and Bougainville will remember the sinking of the ship (mv Rabaul Queen).
It was a very difficult time and a turning point in maritime safety in the country.
It’s an incident that has effectively put us on notice.
We have a lot of problems that needs to be solved,” he said.
Tabar said when the IMO visited Lae, Rabaul and Port Moresby there was a big list of things that needed to be put into place.
NMSA was effectively put on notice and the Department of Transport and Infrastructure tried to coordinate some improvements, he said.
“I made a commitment from the political leadership that we will work hard and that we meet some international safety standards, especially in maritime and aviation.
“There is a safety requirement that is expected from the manufacturer under the Small Craft Act.
“The Australian government has assisted us, we worked hard and as we speak the manufacturers and distributors are working hard to meet the requirements.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of good passenger ships travelling those coastal provinces and effectively our people revert back to dinghies.
“So under the Small Craft Act we still have some outstanding issues especially the enforcement,” he said.
Secretary Roy Mumu said the small craft partnership between NMSA and Department of Transport and the 13 maritime provinces was very important.
He said this partnership is important to fill the gaps that have been identified by the IMO audit and the gap analysis through the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.