Dutch Agencies Agree to Streamline Ship Inspections

New Agreement to Decrease On-Board Inspections

Eighteen Dutch agencies recently signed an agreement designed to better coordinate regulations and compliance, resulting in fewer onboard inspections of ships.

The agreement will first apply to inspections at the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, with the eventual goal of extending the program to every Dutch port.

In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, 24 unique agencies conducted 72 different kinds of inspections in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. There were a total of 162,000 inspections, 44,000 of which took place on board ocean-going vessels.

The agreement addresses streamlining regulations, compliance, allocation of monitoring capacity, administrative supervision, and the exchange of data and inspection results.

Source: Port of Rotterdam

February 2, 2010