This new Guide to Safe Container Ship Operations is a strong indication of the CSSF’s commitment to continued improvement in safety. It objectively sets out the practices and procedures associated with safe container ship operations. These practices and procedures are meant to be challenging – but, having said that, in the vast majority of instances they are already being pursued by the CSSF’s members.
This Guide is not an inspection or audit checklist, nor is it a self-assessment document, and it is not intended to be a measure by which stakeholders may measure or compare one company with another. It is a living document that is expected to be periodically updated to reflect changing standards, requirements and expectations. The practices and procedures described in this guide can be successfully implemented – indeed, everything included in this guidance has been used and has helped to achieve desired improvements.
The CSSF believes that the container ship companies which work towards the successful implementation of the practices described will indeed achieve improved safety and performance standards.
The Guide to Safe Container Ship Operations is limited in its scope to personal and operational safety. The document does not include security, environmental or crew welfare issues except where there are direct safety implications.
The members of the Container Ship Safety Forum represent a diverse mix of container operations and as such recognise that Companies have different safety management objectives and different management systems. To support that this guidance document is intended to help container ship owners, operators and managers develop their own procedures that fit in with and compliment their own company cultures and management systems.
It is intended to be ambitious and help raise safety standards within the container sector but it is not intended to contain prescriptive procedures or instructions and should not be used in that way.