Whenever a country or territory has ratified or had Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention extended to it, as per the requirements of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Instruments Implementation Code (III Code), it must demonstrate its compliance.
In accordance with this, NASH Maritime was asked to undertake the required maritime risk assessments for eight Red Ensign Group (REG) Overseas Territories in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Namely Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St Helena and Turks & Caicos Islands.
Solution
In assessing the need for SOLAS Chapter V Regulations 10 (Routing Measures), 11 (Reporting Measures), 12 (Vessel Traffic Services (VTS)) and 13 (Aids to Navigation (AtoN)), we considered “Volume of Traffic” and “Degree of Risk” for each REG member’s Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (or equivalent).
To undertake the primary assessments, we used IALA Waterway Risk Assessment Program (IWRAP). Using IWRAP we estimated the frequency of collisions and groundings in each given waterway based on information about traffic volume/composition, route geometry and bathymetry. This has led to the introduction of new mitigation measures to manage navigation safety (e.g. reporting measures), which in turn improves the safety of shipping in these areas.
The project is also undertaking 32 navigation risk assessments in port and internal waters of the Overseas Territories. Due to the complexity of navigation in these areas and with multiple control/mitigation measures in place, these assessments were undertaken using the IALA SIRA methodology.
