Over the past two years, Fremantle Ports has taken a leading role in a national and international campaign to introduce safety regulations for ships' mooring lines.

The campaign on mooring line safety was initiated by Fremantle Ports in response to a very serious mooring line incident which occurred in the port in December 2000.

Fremantle Ports' Harbour Master, Captain Eric Atkinson presented a paper at an international congress of harbour masters in Cape Town last year on the topic of mooring line safety, to highlight what Fremantle Ports and others have seen as a compelling need for international regulations to ensure that ships' mooring lines are in a safe and well maintained condition.

Mooring lines are not currently included in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea regulations.

With national and international support, the campaign initiated by Fremantle Ports has recently achieved a significant win. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has included mooring lines as part of its Marine Orders relating to substandard ships. This means that if a vessel has defective lines, AMSA now has the power to declare the vessel substandard and order the lines to be replaced.

Fremantle Ports' Harbour Master travelled to London in June this year as part of an Australian delegation to the International Maritime Organisation's Sub Committee on Safety of Navigation. The delegation is lobbying members to accept the Australian standard as part of the International Safety of Life At Sea Convention (SOLAS)

Fremantle Ports Chief Executive Officer, Kerry Sanderson says Fremantle Ports places a high priority on safety in mooring operations.

Media Contact: Tim Walton     9430 3459