Annual General Assembly 2005 - Malmö

Section 2

International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code – perceptions and reality of shorebased and sea-going staff.

Claudia BURMESTER - Southampton Institute of Higher Education, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the implementation of the ISPS Code and related perceptions of shore-based and sea-going staff. The literature review identified issues of practical importance and shortcomings from which research questions and objectives were derived. These were then triangulated with observations made during an internship in the Quality Department of a ship management company. Consequently, inductive research methods were used for answering the research questions and a questionnaire-based survey was developed. The initial contact with ship management companies located in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands was made by postal method, using an introductory letter, with a shore-based and a sea-going questionnaire attached. The primary research survey took place between July and September 2004. The number of questionnaires sent to individuals was 218, which produced a total number of 111 completed sea-going questionnaires and 40 completed shore-based questionnaires. The survey’s aim was two-fold. It examined the implementation issues and a perception comparison between sea-going and shore-based staff. The obtained data from 32 questions was analysed and discussed in detail, listing the findings from both survey groups. The survey showed ISPS Code shortcomings and identified areas that require amendment, which were in the main congruent with warnings and criticism identified in the literature review. In addition, the survey gave evidence and examples that the ISPS Code does not provide uniform standards and clear guidelines, which led to recommendations being made.

Keywords: ISPS Code, implementation, perceptions, survey, PSC attitude,training, flag state, workload.

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