ISPS Code: A Practical Guide

The Conference was attended by 108 Contracting Governments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention and adopted a number of amendments to SOLAS, the most far reaching of which enshrines the new International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. This new comprehensive security regime for international shipping is due to come into force on 1 July 2004.

The Code applies to passenger ships, including high speed passenger craft, cargo ships, including high speed craft of 500gt or more, mobile offshore drilling units and port facilities serving such ships engaged on international voyages. The Code contains detailed security related requirements for Governments, port authorities and shipping companies in a mandatory section (Part A), together with a series of guidelines about how to meet these requirements in a second, non-mandatory section (Part B).

With some 40,000 ships and 20,000 ports requiring compliance less than a year from now, there is much work to be done and Maritime Journal ‘s founding editor Peter Moth has delivered a timely and useful reference with this handy guide. The book is usefully laid out with official text across three columns accompanied by a single, tinted border column in which ‘non-official’ keywords and/or condensations enable the reader to quickly identify sections or subject areas for which they are looking.

As the global maritime community moves quickly and under intense pressure to comply with the ISPS Code, clear and helpful guideposts such as this book have tremendous value.

ISPS Code: A Practical Guide
Edited and compiled by Peter Moth.
Published by Foreshore Publications.
ISBN 1 901630 01 3
Paperback, 168 pages.