Call to address laws on transportation of goods
MARITIME Safety Authority of Fiji chief executive officer Simon Gravenall says Fiji needs to urgently address laws on domestic shipping regarding the transportation of dangerous goods.
While speaking during a public discussion on maritime travellers’ rights in Lautoka on Friday, he said some domestic laws that regulated vessels did not exist.
He said one example was the shipment of dangerous goods.
“We are going to put out shortly a survey for people to tell us what their understanding of dangerous goods is in Fiji,” Mr Gravenall said.
“So what you probably don’t understand, it applies to everything.
“If a person is carrying a drum of fuel, kerosene or benzene for their own personal use — those are dangerous goods. “The master needs to know what are all on their ship.
“They need to have the response activities to put a fire out.”
He said this was a big issue for Fiji.
“You don’t have any domestic Fijian laws to carry dangerous goods, so it’s now unregulated.
“You need a regulator to ensure a level
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“Now whether you need these drums to go somewhere, it is still dangerous goods, and that needs to be fixed.”
He said if MSAF stopped the vessels from carrying the items, it would cause more issues unless there was proper legislation put in place.
“We can shut this down immediately, but no one will have fuel for their generators.
“People wouldn’t have gas for cooking. “It just wouldn’t work, so we need to fix your laws.”