譬
38
CHAPTER 5
SAFETY OF NAVIGATION
Background to IMO actions on navigation through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore
(The
1 In August 1977, the Governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore co-sponsored a submission to the IMO Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation proposing a new routeing system in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. proposal was the result of a close tripartite co-operation which began with a Joint Statement on 16 November 1971). The proposal took into consideration "the results of four years of hydrographic survey of the Straits" as well as the IMO General Provisions on Ships' Routeing.
2 In November 1977, the tenth Assembly of IMO adopted a resolution on "Navigation through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore" (A.375(X)) which described a new routeing system for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, including traffic separation schemes (TSSs), deep-water routes and special rules for deep-draught vessels and VLCCs.
3 In April 1978, the thirty-eighth session of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) noted information provided by the Indonesian delegation that the three coastal States concerned had reached agreement in principle to amend the TSS in the Singapore Strait to meet concerns expressed at the twentieth session of the Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation. Amendments to the scheme were to be submitted to IMO "in due course".
4 In January 1981, the twenty-fifth session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation considered a suggestion by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) that lighted navigational marks and radar reflectors should be established at suitable positions on both sides of the channel to the north-east of Fair Channel Bank in the Singapore Strait.
5 In April 1981, the forty-fourth session of the MSC considered a proposal by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to amend one of the special rules concerning the problem of a loaded VLCC crossing the westbound lane when approaching the Sultan Shoal pilot boarding area, to ensure it was consistent with the Collision Regulations which apply to vessels in TSSs. The change to the rule was approved.
6 In November 1981, the twelfth session of the IMO Assembly adopted resolution A.476(XII) on "Navigation through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore". The resolution adopted the amendment to the special rule on deep-draught ships (effectively amending the rules which had been adopted by resolution A.375(X)). The resolution also noted that the MSC, at its forty-third session, had adopted amendments to the TSS and deep-water routes in the routeing system which had been adopted by resolution A.375(X).
7 In December 1992, the sixty-first session of the MSC considered recommendations by OCIMF that safety of navigation would be improved in certain parts of the Malacca and Singapore Straits if selected navigational buoys were replaced with fixed light beacons or fixed radar transponder
W/9181e
Page 60Page 61