The Philippine Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) is implementing a stricter policy in ship registration that aims to delist ships involved in illegal activities.
The policy, based on an agreement with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), is contained in MARINA Circular 2013-02 on revised rules for the registration, documentation and deletion of ships operating in Philippine waters that took effect on March 16.
MARINA revised the rules in order to streamline processing of documentary requirements and identify instances when a ship may be stricken off the registry.
Paragraph 8 of the general provisions of the circular stated that vessels involved in “illegal activities like smuggling or engage in carriage of drugs as reported by PCG will not be registered”.
To enforce the policy, the PCG will submit names of apprehended or undocumented vessels to MARINA, which can deny the application for registration on recommendations of the PCG.
MARINA also wanted to consolidate provisions of different circulars pertaining to registration of ships and to cover other sizes and types of ships and impose penalties.
“The coverage includes all types of ships regardless of size and utilization with or without power. It also includes ships 3 gross tons, whether motorized or not, power barges and mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) under special-purpose ships such as wig, amphibian, submarine, hydrofoil, hovercraft, floating restaurant, and push boat under miscellaneous ships,” the circular said.
Photo from www.coastguard.gov.ph
