Overworked seafarers press for revised code

ISPS was railroaded through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by the US in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and has since proved a burden borne by both overworked seafarers and shipowners facing a rising tide of red tape.
Steven Jones, an ex-seafarer turned security consultant, says the average seafarer’s resentful reaction is understandable but it could mean they take less seriously more mundane threats, such as those from stowaways and contraband.
These are the risks, he says, and his book – Maritime Security: A Practical Guide – explains how to deal with them. Mr Jones, himself a victim of a minor piracy incident when his ship was robbed, uses the phrase “failing rules and failed people” to describe the current situation in which crews find themselves in a “triangle” of economics  and complex politics which in a some regions guarantee piracy.
ISPS has proved virtually redundant during the wave of hijackings and attacks on ships in areas like the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Nigeria.
The UK officers’ union  which has had members killed and wounded by pirates, has called for a major rethink.
A passenger ship master summed up the conundrum faced by seafarers: “In many places seafarers are seen as the problem, as opposed to being a major part of the solution to security problems.”
With the likelihood IMO members will fail to meet the July deadline for the satellite-based Long-Range Identification and Tracking System, also hurried through by the US, the world’s harassed crews face further cutbacks and more CCTV scrutiny.