Chief executives of New Zealand’s port companies, councils and Maritime New Zealand will commit today to a revised national port and harbour marine code to make shipping in commercial harbours safer.
New initiatives include creating a governance group of chief executives, jointly funding a secretariat to administer the revised code, and setting up a work programme, including safety systems reviews and performance monitoring. The reviewers will be experienced harbourmasters, marine managers, and pilots nominated by councils and port companies, and supported by Maritime NZ.
“With 99% of our imports and exports by volume travelling by sea, our ports and harbours are crucial to our economy and trading relationships,” points out Maritime NZ director Keith Manch. He says the main focus of the code is the safe movement of ships inside commercial ports and harbours, including waterways and channels, marine traffic, berthing, port operations on the water, and protection of the marine environment.
According to Garth Cowie, Napier Port chief executive, ports are multi-faceted operations, with the added complexity of different businesses working in the same place with overlapping safety responsibilities.
“New Zealand ports are committed to ensuring that every person entering their operation can carry out their work without undue risk and go home safely to their families at the end of the day. The revised New Zealand Port and Harbour Marine Safety Code, along with the governance protocols, is part of that,” he says.
The code includes “statements of good practice” for maritime activities inside ports and harbours and a safety management system for applying these practices based on a shared responsibility model.
New Zealand established a voluntary harbour and ports safety code in 2004, but this has not been formally or consistently applied.
The 2016 New Zealand Port and Harbour Marine Safety Code is on the Maritime NZ website.
