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Alison Kitchen, partner and chairman of KPMG Energy and Natural Resources, said the Act will impact any business involved in the use of shipping, port or port facilities to export or stockpile bulk commodities, either directly - if the facilities are owner operated, or indirectly - through exposure to contracts with third parties providing this service.
The Maritime Transport Security Act 2003 received royal assent on 12 December last year and the much awaited Maritime Security Regulations were released on 23 December. The Regulations, among other things, require a maritime security plan and also provide additional guidance for the conduct of security assessments.
Kitchen said failure to address this issue could result in commercial disruption to a businesses exporting and importing activities. Non-compliance with the Act directly or through the non-compliance of third parties could result in a business being unable to deliver its product to its final destination.
She suggested that if a company is involved in such activities, it should determine whether it is a "Maritime Industry Participant" (MIP) under the Act and the need to submit a security plan; and if not a MIP, assess ones business impacts from these changes.
Kitchen said the following questions might provide a guideline to marine oriented businesses.
- Are you involved in mining, transporting, stockpiling and loading at ports?
- Do you own and operate storage and/or loading/unloading facilities within the confines of a port?
- Do you use ships operated by your company or third parties (charter vessels) to transport commodities overseas?
- Do you use any port or port facilities owned by third parties?
- Are you exposed to contracts with businesses involved in any of the above processes that may be implicated by this Act?
It should also be noted that ships calling at Singapore will be expected to meet an accelerated deadline of compliance by 1 March 2004. With these fast approaching deadlines, and considerable activity required to meet these requirements, Kitchen said there is no time to wait.
