Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority (KOMSA) struck an MOU on public infrastructure to build a marine safety cooperation regime with Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Public Agency (FiPA) on May 16, KOMSA said.
The major collaboration areas are to boost the establishment of ship inspection centers at national ports, implement projects to advance the angling industry, operate and support port management of ships, exchange information to spur ship transactions and fishermen’s return of the fishing industry and fishing villages, and conduct sustainable social contribution activities related to ESG management.
The two institutions agreed to expand the collaboration areas by exploring and discussing areas valuable for the development of the future marine safety sector.
Inspection team members have so far visited about 100,000 coastal ships at 400 ports and docks across the nation.
KOMSA plans to establish a regular ship inspection regime and advance ship inspection through a digital paradigm shift, based on continued cooperation with related institutions.
Under the deal, KOMSA plans to establish a regular ship inspection regime by building hub ship inspection centers at national ports on top of the operation of smart ship safety support centers in Mokpo and Incheon, to be dedicated and put into operation in the second half of this year.
The step is designed to reduce inspection time by introducing a regular ship inspection reservation system and offer improved service quality to shipowners through scientific inspection using advanced inspection equipment.
KOMSA also plans to implement projects to upgrade ship inspection methods into digital-based ones. Ship inspection centers will ramp up ship safety management in island areas, which lack access, through remotely controlled inspection system.
A ship inspection electronic document issuance system will be built to offer electronic services, such as document storage and reissuance.
KOMSA will make preparations to launch a pilot project, which is scheduled to offer services in the second half of the year.
The step is expected to improve users’ convenience, such as curtailing the time to handle administrative duties.
KOMSA President Kim Jun-seok said, “In the case of automobile, tightly-knit safety network has been built through inspection infrastructure across the nation, and under the agreement with FiPA, building ship inspection centers at national ports is expected to become a corner stone to ramp up marine safety services and KOMSA will do its utmost to raise public convenience by not only securing marine safety and aggressively cooperating in efforts to invigorate fishing villages and to improve the fishing environment.”
KOMSA inspectors conduct an inspection into a ship. (Photos: KOMSA)
KOMSA Simplifies Ship Inspection Process
Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority (KOMSA) said on April 27 that KOMSA raised consumers’ convenience by simplifying ship inspection procedures within a range of ensuring safety.
First of all, KOMSA amended the enforcement decrees of the Act on Ship Safety in cooperation of the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries to rationalize the time and cost of inspecting light oil ships and outboard electric power propulsion system ships with less than five tons. The decrees went into force on April 12.
KOMSA President Kim said, “KOMSA will lend an ear to voices of inspection sites, and if necessary, we will do our best to raise the safety of ships and customers’ conveniences by aggressively recommending matters of institutional reform to the government.”
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