draft Merchant Shipping (Alcohol) (prescribed limits amendment) Regulations 2015

Robert Flello Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2015 General Committees

[Mr Goodwill]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The legislation will apply to professional mariners. If one were to charter a vessel with a crew so that one could enjoy a party on board, the crew would be expected to maintain their sobriety under the terms of the legislation. However, the regulations would not apply to recreational seafarers. Of course, we have laws in this country for people behaving irresponsibly. If I were up a ladder painting my house and I was drunk and dropped something on someone’s head and killed them, I would be held responsible. Previous Governments have looked at how the regulations may apply to recreational mariners, and this measure does not apply to them.

I mentioned one example of how alcohol consumption can severely impair a seafarer’s ability to safely navigate a ship.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Given that the regulations deal with lowering the limit—the example that the Minister has just cited was of somebody three and a half times over the existing limit—how does he see the lowering of the limit affecting such cases where the seafarer clearly did not have any regard at all for the existing limits?

[Mr Goodwill]

Obviously, as all Members will know, when one sets a limit for alcohol in this country, whether it is for an airline pilot, a mariner or the driver of a car, truck or bus, there are those who will disregard the law and break the limits. Indeed, one of the worst cases of drink-driving that we have seen, as in the port of Belfast, was the master of a vessel who was three and a half times over the existing limit, which would probably be five times over the new limit. Of course, such irresponsible behaviour cannot be tolerated. In the case that I mentioned, the man, who was not a UK national—and neither was the ship on the UK shipping register—was imprisoned and felt the full force of the law. Indeed, it was very fortunate that people were not killed and that a major pollution incident did not ensue from that particular incident.

[Robert Flello]

I am grateful to the Minister for being generous with his time. Are there facts, figures, data on mariners who have been over the new limit but below the existing limit having accidents or causing problems? Is that the reason behind the introduction of a lower limit?

[Mr Goodwill]

As I will explain, we have a new international agreement over global limits; as I develop my points, that will become apparent. This is about having the same limit all over the world so that mariners can be in no doubt about what the limit is. Indeed, I will not go too much into drink-driving, but there were a lot of arguments about driving between Scotland and England when the Scots changed their regulations. Therefore, no one can be in any doubt if they are on board a vessel about what the limit is. Many shipping companies will go over and above this and impose zero tolerance on their crew members, particularly on short sea crossings, where people can have a normal social life on land and engage in their work on the vessel.

In the example that I gave, that captain endangered not only himself and his own vessel but other ships in the vicinity and the people on board them, not to mention the local marine environment. That is why we take the matter of breaches of our alcohol limits so seriously. While there is much that we can do as a nation to ensure the safety of shipping, there is no doubt that even more can be achieved by agreeing improved standards to be applied globally—going on to the point that I was making—through the International Maritime Organisation. Particularly important is the IMO’s convention on standards of training, certification and watchkeeping. The purpose of this convention is to establish internationally the basic standards of competence and behaviour to which seafarers must adhere. At the Manila conference in 2010, a number of changes to the convention were agreed to address risks to safety that had been identified. This included, for the first time, an internationally agreed alcohol limit for professional mariners. In the case of breath, 25 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres and, in the case of blood, 50 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres. I cast my mind back to the existing regulation, which was 35 and 80; that reduces to 25 and 50.

These tough new limits on alcohol consumption reflect a global commitment to tackling the problem of seafarers who cannot fulfil their duties through drink and the threat that that poses to safe navigation. It is envisaged that they will send a strong message to ship operators and seafarers worldwide that excessive consumption of alcohol at sea will not be tolerated. It is right that, as a leading maritime nation, we put our weight behind that effort. The regulations that we are considering today would bring existing UK legislation into line with the limits agreed at the IMO, with the addition of a limit in the case of urine of 67 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres, which is the comparable level.

In addition, having international common alcohol limits helps mariners to understand the standard of behaviour expected of them no matter where they are in the world. Given that national borders are not visible at sea, enforcement of those limits is simplified when seafarers are found to have exceeded them. The effectiveness of these regulations will be kept under review. The Secretary of State will be required to report on the findings of periodic reviews of the effect of the new alcohol limits. This will ensure that we continue to focus on the overriding objective of maintaining safe navigation.

The maritime industry is vital to the UK’s prosperity and many human lives depend on its safe and efficient operation. By tightening the alcohol limits that we apply to our professional mariners, we both reduce the risk of accidents in our waters and stand shoulder to shoulder with other maritime nations seeking to do the same. I commend the order to the Committee.