“In 2005 Malta was the first EU state to be inspected by the European Commission to measure its compliance to the European Regulation on Port Facilities and Ship Security and was found to be fully compliant. In October of the same year, the European Commission entered into further agreements to implement additional legislation to enhance security even further,” Malta Maritime Authority chairman Dr Marc Bonello said yesterday.

Speaking at port security workshop addressing Malta’s National Maritime Safety Security, Dr Bonello said this legislation included the whole of the port areas, and the date for compliance is June 2007. This task is also being undertaken by the MMA, he said.

The Port Security Committees workshop hosted by the MMA in collaboration with the Competitiveness and Communication Ministry addressed port operators, facilities, service providers and government agencies.

“Security incidents resulting from terrorism are among the greatest threats to the ideals of democracy, freedom and peace, which are the essence of the European Union. Security of European States is of the highest priority to the European Commission, more so in the current situation of unrest around the world,” the minister told the workshop participants.

He said that although the experts do not see Malta as a high-risk country, there is always the possibility that this situation could change.

“We must remain on our guard to ensure that we can minimise the risk of such incidents. To assist us in the protection of our industry, the IMO and the EU Commission have adopted different legislation such as the ISPS Code, EC regulation 725/2004 and the EC directive on Port Security. This legislation identifies what should be done to protect our industry and reduce the risk of such incidents of terrorism. However, one must also remember that this legislation will also help protect our industry against other criminal acts,” Minister Galea said.

The main speaker during this workshop was Brian Cranmer, Maritime Security Compliance Manager at the Malta Maritime Authority who addressed workshop participants on a number of related topics such as the ISPS Code legislation, the role of security committees within Malta’s maritime safety structure and the proposed Supply Chain Directive.

Other speakers included Victor Dalmas who spoke on Malta Shipyards Ltd’s security structure, Ernest Tonna who addressed Malta Freeport’s experience of the same topic and John Schembri on the National Security Project.

The Port Security Committee was set up following the introduction of the EU directive on port security, this followed on from legislation issued by the International Maritime Organisation. Contracting governments are required to carry out regular security risk assessments, produce security plans and policies, identify port boundaries and to review domestic services and port facilities.

Malta, a contracting government to this organisation, was one of the 164 nationals that had to implement this code. Port Security Committees are continuously seeking to provide the technical knowledge and operational knowhow to assist the government’s implementation process of the required safety and security procedures.