PRS pushes for single classification society bill

THE Philippine Register of Shipping (PRS) said it is high time that Philippines have one classification society just like the rest of the maritime nations in the world.

Engr. Thaddeus Jovellanos, PRS president, said they supported the bill in congress on single Classification Society to ensure an effective and efficient enforcement of quality standards of safety for the Philippine shipping fleet.

Classification societies are entrusted to validate that the construction of the ships follow the appropriate parameters of safety. Currently, there were six local classification societies accredited by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA). The cutthroat competition is now prevalent which resulted in the undercutting of fees and worse, laxity in the enforcement of safety standards.

PRS supported Rep. Jesulito A. Manalo’s House Bill (HB) 460, which is an Act amending certain provisions of RA 9295, titled “Domestic Shipping Development Act of 2004,” particularly on Single Classification Society.

Jovellanos said the competition began and gave rise to relaxation of safety standards and lowering of fees, as the other classification societies were simply motivated by profit.

He said other class societies have no in-house surveyors and free-lance surveyors were simply called in on a per vessel project basis. They have no Quality Management System (QMS) and no Rule Book to base their standards on. Worse of all, is they have conflicts of interests like being the owner of both the class society and the ships being classed.

“When there are many classification societies competing for the same market, major deficiencies found on vessels may be compromised just to get or retain the business from the ship- owner. Even worse, ships’ class certificates are being issued at bargain prices and without any inspection carried out,” Jovetlanos told TheManilaTimes.

Responsible ship-owners would not allow this to happen, however, there are also irresponsible ship-owners in the shipping community.

He added that lowering of fees may not be also healthy as it would negate in the long run the objective of class societies to deliver quality service. It is not difficult to prove this quality survey need quality surveyors and quality surveyors need quality compensation.

“It is noteworthy that even our Asean neighbors like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia already have their own single national classification society, the Biru Classifikasi of Indonesia was even created by their government through legislation and continuously being supported in this operation up to the present,” he said.

He added that government must select the best qualified and reliable organization to be the single classification society in the Philippines.

Rep. Manalo said all countries in the world have adopted the policy of having a single national classification society. In fact, some have even been established and supported by their own governments just like in Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia, where most safety functions were delegated to their national classification society.

“With the Asean integration, there were previous plans for the Philippines to be parallel with neighboring Asean countries, which all have strong single classification societies, so that all Asean classification societies can amalgamate and be at par with members of the International Association of Classification Societies or IACS,” he said.

“We must cooperate with them regionally on the same high level of standards on maritime safety. We cannot be a true global maritime player if we are content with mere sub-standard and fragmentized classification regime,” Manalo said.

PRS is the first and original classification society for the domestic fleet that was accredited by Philippine Coast Guard in 1992. When the safety regulatory functions of PCG were transferred to MARINA, PRS applied for accreditation from MARINA.