The revelation that the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF) has no formal standard for maritime safety in the country is a concern.
MSAF chief executive officer Joweli Cawaki said they were doing their best to achieve this and having MSAF offices at all local jetties around the country would help achieve that.
It raises questions though! Why has it taken so long to address the issue?
Why wasn’t this raised as a major issue before?
We can only hope there was no complacency!
Over the years, Mr Cawaki said, they had not “pegged a standard to Fiji’s maritime safety”.
“We are trying hard to get there — to set a standard for Fiji,” he said.
All vessels — public, private, anything that is floating and transporting people, right up to small wooden boats, he said, would be audited.
Plans are in place to set up offices at all local jetties around the country.
“We are not in all the places we’re supposed to be. Where there are vessels, we should be there, but we are not.” Now this makes sense!
Again, the question would be asked: Why wasn’t this considered earlier?
Mr Cawaki said MSAF was mandated to look after the maritime safety and environmental protection of Fiji.
He highlighted the need for people to get their money’s worth when paying for maritime transportation.
Maritime safety, he said, was about a vessel leaving in one piece from one port and arriving in one piece at another port.
“MSAF needs to be stringent in its surveys to ensure the vessel is safe, otherwise, we lose the confidence of cargo owners and our people.”
What we have here is a situation that is worrying.
We reflect on the urgent need for such a standard to be put in place considering the number of vessels plying our waters.
People are travelling daily on inter-island vessels that connect Viti Levu to Vanua Levu and to other outlying islands.
We acknowledge the need for safety standards, and the effort now put into setting that up, yet it is concerning that we still don’t have anything clearly defined.
It is a worry given the number of people that travel daily around the country.
The absence of such a standard exposes passengers and cargo to unnecessary risks.
We need firm policies and enforcement mechanisms in place to support any expansion of MSAF’s presence around the country.
Until such standards are implemented and enforced, there will be concern over maritime travel and this is unacceptable!
