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National 074/01
16 March 2001

PASSENGER SHIPPING ASSOCIATION & MCA CONFERENCE
HELD TO DISCUSS CRISIS MANAGEMENT

A successful joint seminar was held in Southampton on 15 March 2001 attended by over 90 senior delegates from over 25 passenger shipping companies, representatives of three major ports and the MCA to discuss issues arising from a major incident. They included general managers, port and operations managers, and PR managers from the PSA’s ferry & cruise member companies.

The conference was devoted to discussing crisis management issues and how the passenger and ferry companies can confront such crises as they occur and how to integrate their emergency planning with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and the Police.

The main aims of the seminar were:

· to consider how companies may minimise the adverse effects of incidents on their company & the industry as a whole

· to consider the shoreside response: who is in charge?

· to consider the roles of the Company, the MCA, Police, Port and other authorities - and how the response may differ in other countries

· to consider who deals with the news media, and how...

And the objectives of the seminar included:

· to enable better understanding of the respective roles & responsibilities of the lead authorities responding to a major incident

· to improve liaison between PSA members and the responding authorities

· to enable better understanding of how a major incident would be handled, and how the roles and responsibilities of all concerned should be co-ordinated.

William Gibbons, Director of the Passenger Shipping Association who co-hosted the event and chaired the floor sessions said:

" This was the first event on crisis management specifically for the passenger shipping sector. The representatives from the 25 cruise and ferry companies present learnt a lot from the excellent speakers, especially on the need to co-ordinate with the emergency services and other involved Agencies.

" In the unlikely event of a major crisis the passenger companies will now be better prepared. We very much hope that this excellent co-operation between the PSA and the MCA will be the first example of a long and fruitful relationship."

David Jardine-Smith Shipping SAR Liaison Officer for the MCA said:

" We were very pleased to have such a high attendance at the seminar where many vital issues were discussed, including European co-ordination after a major incident.

" The speed and pressure of the news media after a major shipping incident were discussed at length, and how companies and the MCA can deal logistically with such a large onslaught of media representatives.

" Additionally, a speaker from the Home Office Emergency Planning College brought home particularly well the long term effects on companies and the lessons they must learn in order to cope after a major ferry or passenger carrying incident. Overall, a highly successful seminar which we hope to repeat in the future."