China Launches Campaign to Ensure Ship Safety

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 ◆ China Launches Campaign to Ensure Ship Safety

China on July 1 joined the world's leading port states in launching a three-month Concentrated Inspection Campaign to ensure cargo ships are operating safely and in an environmentally conscious manner.

Any cargo vessel weighing 500 tons or more will be detained if it fails to comply with the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention (ISM Code), China Maritime Safety Administration officials said on July 1, according to the China Daily on July 2.

As part of an inspection campaign that will end on September 30, Chinese port control officers will check the ISM Code compliance of ships when they conduct their normal port state control inspections, the maritime agency said in a notice.

The ISM Code requires ship owners and managers to develop and carry out a safety management system addressing all of their activities onshore and on board of the ships, the maritime agency official said.

Implementation of the ISM Code was made mandatory at a 1994 meeting of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.