Owners of speedboats on these vessels will in future be required to have a device that automatically transmits data on their speed. In addition, they are required to keep this device switched on at all times. Vessels carrying passengers must also now have at least two crew members instead of one.
Such obligations are stipulated in the new Law on Maritime Navigation Safety, which was adopted by the Parliament at the end of last year and entered into force recently.
According to the Law, all vessels registered for the commercial activity of transporting passengers, longer than five meters, must be equipped with automatic identification devices (AIS transponders) and the device must be constantly turned on.
An AIS transponder constantly broadcasts data on the identity, speed, course and destination of the vessel on which it is installed. All fishing vessels longer than 15 meters will also have to have AIS permanently switched on.
Owners of fast pleasure boats will not be happy that, despite their opposition, the Law still requires that all vessels registered for the commercial activity of transporting passengers must now have at least two crew members instead of one.
All passenger and high-speed passenger ships engaged in international voyages, as well as all cargo ships over 3.000 tons, built after 2002, are now legally required to have VDR devices (black boxes that record all important navigation parameters) while in Montenegrin territorial waters.
There are no offshore wind farms.
Although expressed in the draft, the idea of this regulation also regulating the safety of navigation on the so-called inland waters, primarily Lake Skadar, was abandoned, so that area remains largely undefined.
Also, although mentioned in the draft, the current Law does not mention any new facilities related to offshore energy activities, such as wind generators and wave energy converters, but only talks about "floating facilities and installations for hydrocarbon production."
Tugboats in Boka Bay mandatory, no speed limit
The law also introduces an obligation for all ships longer than 100 meters to use a security escort of a tugboat of "adequate power and traction" while sailing through the Verige Strait, or when maneuvering for tying, untying and anchoring in the ports of the Bay of Kotor.
In Article 51, which defines the use of tugboats, however, no exception is made to this obligation for yachts longer than 100 meters, so these vessels, when arriving in Boka Bay ports and marinas, will also have to be escorted by tugboats.
"If the pilot believes that the ship's master's decision to use an appropriate number of tugboats does not guarantee the safety of the ship and the port during maneuvering, he shall inform the Port Authority, which shall determine the minimum number of tugboats required for the safe maneuvering of the ship," reads Article 51. When several vessels simultaneously request tugboat assistance and there are not enough tugboats, or when the safety of navigation and human lives is threatened or sea pollution may occur, the Port Authority, it is added, determines the schedule for the use of tugboats.
Tugboats, as foreseen, must be equipped to extinguish fires on ships and shore facilities.
Unlike the previous one, the new Law on Navigation Safety does not contain an explicit provision on the maximum permitted speed. Until now, it was 10 knots in the Bay of Boka Kotorska and the areas of the Platamuni, Katič and Stari Ulcinj nature parks, or six knots in the Kumbor and Verige Straits, but it also allowed vessels up to 24 meters long to sail in these zones at speeds up to four knots higher than the maximum prescribed.
This must now be subsequently regulated by a by-law, which is, unofficially, being drafted.
Seaplane landings to be announced 15 days in advance
The new Law does not have the explicit provisions that were in its Draft, related to the use of seaplanes. The Draft, without any additional restrictions, allowed take-off and landing from the sea surface at a distance of no less than 300 meters from the coast, or no less than 150 meters with a special prior permit. This is not in the adopted law, but the use of seaplanes can be subsumed under the provisions of Article 15, which defines the sea as “a space intended for sports, recreation and leisure”.
This article stipulates that "on a certain part of the waterway, sports competitions and other activities may be held based on the approval of the Port Authority and subject to the conditions and measures established by that approval."
To issue a permit, the organizer of a sporting event or other activity at sea is required to submit a request to the Port Authority no later than 15 days before the start of such an event.
Only experienced seafarers can become harbor captains.
The new Law did not eliminate the problematic provisions from the Draft that were pointed out by a part of the professional public, because the ability to monitor and manage maritime traffic (VTS), apart from the Maritime Safety Administration, whose operators are the only ones who have a complete overview of the situation in the water area based on data from sensors (radars, AIS, video cameras), enabled this to be done in the port water area by the "Harbour Master's Office in cooperation with the VTS Service".
The role of the Port Authority has been reaffirmed and strengthened by the new law. The Ministry has abandoned the poor solution in the Draft that allowed for the appointment of port captains to persons who have not graduated from the Faculty of Maritime Studies in the nautical field, as is the case everywhere in the world. Thus, it is now clearly stipulated that a port captain, in addition to the conditions prescribed by the Law on Civil Servants and Employees, can only be a seafarer-nautical person who has a valid brevet as a captain of a merchant ship of 3.000 tons or more, and at least 24 months of sailing experience as a captain of such a ship.
Nuclear ships are "seen", yachts are in another law
The new law also includes an article that deals with foreign nuclear ships (nuclear-powered vessels). There are very few civilian nuclear-powered ships in the world (with the exception of Russian icebreakers in the Arctic), so the only realistic possibility of finding a nuclear-powered ship in our ports or waters is if a submarine or aircraft carrier from a NATO ally were to visit us. Their nuclear propulsion system is strictly confidential and inaccessible, even to the civil services of the countries in whose navies such ships operate.
Although this was the original intention of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, the law that was adopted did not cover the matter that was previously covered by a separate Law on Yachts.
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