Reporting and investigation of marine incidents

Incidents involving Singapore registered ships must be reported. This triggers off an investigation process that may lead to safety recommendations and learning among the shipping community.

Reporting of incidents

Owners and Masters must report incidents that involve Singapore registered ships to the Director of Marine (Fax: 65 6278 6992, Email: marine@mpa.gov.sg) within 24hours.The process of reporting and investigating marine incidents takes these steps:

• Owners and Masters report the incident
• The Ship Investigation Department (IVD) investigates the cause of the incident
• The IVD provides safety recommendations
• Sharing of investigation findings and root causes to the Shipowners and shipping community

Marine safety investigation

Under the IMO instruments, each flag State has a duty to conduct an investigation into any casualty occurring to any ship flying its flag, when it judges that such an investigation may assist in determining what changes in the present regulations may be desirable, or if such a casualty has produced a major deleterious effect upon the environment.

For e.g., the IMO International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), included a provision requiring flag State Administrations to conduct investigations into any casualty suffered by a ship of its flag if an investigation may assist in identifying regulatory issues as a contributing factor. A similar provision could also be found in the IMO International Convention on Load Lines.

The sovereignty of a coastal State extends beyond its land and port waters to the extent of its territorial sea. This jurisdiction gives the coastal State an inherent right to investigate marine casualties and marine incidents connected with its territory. As such, flag States are required to inquire into certain marine casualties and marine incidents occurring on the high seas – reference is made to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In this regard, MPA have legal provisions to cover the investigation of a shipping incident within its port waters and territorial sea, regardless of the flag. In particular, there are also legal provisions that allow MPA investigator(s), conducting a marine safety investigation, to board a ship, interview the master and crew and any other persons involved, and acquire evidential material for the purposes of the investigation.

Objective

Marine safety investigations do not seek to apportion blame or determine liability. Instead, it is an investigation conducted with the objective of preventing marine casualties and marine incidents in the future. However, this does not preclude any reporting on the casual factors of a marine casualty or marine incident because blame or liability may be inferred from the findings.

The ultimate goal of a marine safety investigation is to advance maritime safety and protection of the marine environment. This goal is achieved by identifying safety deficiencies through a systematic investigation of marine incidents and then recommending or effecting change in the maritime system to correct these deficiencies e.g. reporting to IMO.

SHIP INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT (IVD)

The IVD conducts Investigations in line with the IMO’s Casualty Investigation Code. These procedures are ISO certified. IVD investigates all incidents that:

• occur within the Singapore Territorial Waters including the Port Waters
• Involve Singapore registered ships anywhere in the world.

Education and sharing of incidents

The findings and root causes are shared with the shipping community,the platforms to share lessons learnt include:

• Shipping Circulars;
• Maritime Forums;
• Seminars; or
• Workshops and briefings