MARITIME SAFETY : BETTER ACCOMODATION OF SHIPS IN DISTRESS.

• Position: Brief article

A new Cooperation Group on Places of Refuge, set up by the European Commission, met for the first time in Brussels, on 15 March. Its members are the maritime safety authorities of member states. The group is charged with assessing the need to improve existing legislation on accommodating ships in need of assistance in European ports or other places of refuge.

The group was created in the wake of the accident of the container ship Flaminia, on 14 July 2012 in the Atlantic. A fire broke out on the German ship transporting nearly 3,000 containers, some of which held toxic waste, in waters off the coasts of France and England. The ship was left unassisted for days before a state, Germany (the Flaminia's flag state), agreed to provide a place of refuge. Neither France nor the United Kingdom had agreed to provide assistance. The case caused a stir among members of the EP's Committee on Transport (TRAN), who...