AUSTRALIAN MARITIME SAFETY AUTHORITY SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 2005 - 2006 OUR VISION To be a superior provider of maritime safety, marine environment protection, and maritime and aviation search and rescue. MISSION STATEMENT AMSA is committed to continuous improvement in provision of its safety and environment protection services and maintaining constructive relations with our stakeholders in government, industry and the community. “Safety is Our Business” © Australian Maritime Safety Authority This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or part subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source and no commercial usage or sale. Reproduction for purposes other than those indicated above requires the written permission of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, GPO Box 2181, Canberra City ACT 2601. ISSN 1039–0626 Copy/design/typeset: Australian Maritime Safety Authority ii Australian Government Australian Maritime Safety Authority The Hon. Mark Vaile MP Office of the Chairman The Hon Mark Vaile MP Minister for Transport and Regional Services Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Dear Minister On behalf of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, I have much pleasure in submitting the Authority’s Annual Report 2005-2006, including the Report of Operations and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2006. The report is made in accordance with a resolution on 26 September 2006 of the Directors who are responsible under section 9 of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 for its preparation and content in accordance with the Finance Minister’s Orders. Yours sincerely EDWARD G ANSON, AM Chairman 29 September 2006 25 Constitution Avenue, Canberra, ACT • GPO Box 2181 Canberra City ACT 2601 Telephone: (02) 6279 5994 • Facsimile: (02) 6279 5813 iii iv Contents Page No. PROFILE OF AMSA AMSA’s Role 2 Highlights 2005-2006 3 Chairman’s Report 5 Board Members 8 Corporate Structure 10 Financial Snapshot and Performance Summary 11 Overview of Financial Performance 2005-2006 12 Outcomes and Outputs Chart 2005-2006 16 ACTIVITIES IN 2005-2006 Outcome 1: Minimising the Risk of Shipping Incidents and Pollution in Australian Waters - Output 1.1: Safety and Environment Protection Standards 17 - Performance Review 2005-2006 53 - Output 1.2: Monitoring Compliance with Standards 55 - Performance Review 2005-2006 77 - Output 1.3: Response to Marine Pollution Incidents 79 - Performance Review 2005-2006 96 - Output 1.4: Systems to Aid Safe Marine Navigation 97 - Performance Review 2005-2006 108 Outcome 2: Maximising the Number of People Saved from Maritime and Aviation Incidents - Output 2.1: Maritime and Aviation Search and Rescue 109 - Performance Review 2005-2006 130 v CORPORATE SERVICES Finance Services 136 Human Resources 138 Business Services 140 Information Services 145 Corporate Strategy 147 Shipping Registration 149 Staffing Reports (Human Resources and Occupational Health & Safety) 150 Financial Statements 159 APPENDICES - Report of Operations 208 - Freedom of Information Statement 227 - Environmental Performance 2005-2006 231 - Service Charter Report 2005-2006 239 - Regulatory Plan 2005-2006 242 - Overview of Cost Recovery Arrangements 255 - AMSA Information 259 - AMSA Offices 261 Compliance Index 262 Glossary 264 Index 267 vi Profile of AMSA in 2005-2006 • AMSA’S ROLE • HIGHLIGHTS 2005-2006 • CHAIRMAN’S REPORT • BOARD MEMBERS • CORPORATE STRUCTURE • FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT AND PERFORMANCE SUMMARY • OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 2005-2006 • OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS CHART 2005-2006 1 AMSA’S Role The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is the national safety agency with a primary role in maritime safety, protection of the marine environment and aviation and marine search and rescue. Established under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990 as an Australian Government Authority, AMSA is largely self-funded through levies on the commercial shipping industry. AMSA’s primary areas of responsibility include: • Participating in the development and implementation of national and international maritime safety and environment protection standards; • Enforcing operational standards for ships in Australian waters to promote their seaworthiness, safety and pollution prevention; • Enforcing training standards and competency of seafarers and coastal pilots; • Providing the national aids to navigation network and navigational systems, including development and application of international navigational safety policy and standards; • Managing the National Plan that coordinates the national strategy for preparedness and response to marine pollution incidents and protection of the marine environment from ship-sourced pollution; • Establishing emergency response capability consistent with the National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements and a national decision making capacity; • Operating the Emergency Response Centre, with the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre as its hub to coordinate the location and rescue of persons in maritime and aviation distress situations throughout the internationally agreed Australian Search and Rescue Region of some 53 million square kilometres; • Maintaining maritime distress and safety communications services to discharge Australia’s responsibility under the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System; • Providing two ground stations and a Mission Control Centre for the Cospas-Sarsat satellite distress beacon detection system; • Administering the Australian Ship Reporting system (AUSREP) identifying and tracking ships at sea as a safety measure and to provide a database of ships that may be in a position to respond to an emergency; • Delivering related services including: - Public awareness and education in marine safety and pollution prevention; - Administration of Australia’s ship registration system; - Exercising occupational health and safety inspectorate functions; - Publication of, and public access to, ship safety and environment standards. 2 Safety is Our Business Highlights International Maritime Organization: Output 1.1 AMSA continues to participate in the IMO’s development and implementation of ship safety and environment protection measures relevant to Australia. Major achievements included: • Advancing measures to address the risk associated with conducting lifeboat drills and with lifeboat release systems. • Implementation of the Voluntary Member State Audit Scheme to improve flag State responsibility and accountability. • Contributing to IMO agreed performance standards and functional requirements for Long Range Identification and Tracking of ships. Ship safety compliance monitoring: Output 1.2 AMSA keeps pursuing initiatives to improve the quality of foreign flag ships operating in Australian waters: • Further refinement of AMSA’s targeting system for ship safety inspections towards higher risk ships and focused inspections at specific safety issues; • Ongoing development of ship information databases and sharing of ship inspection data though regional forums; • Broadening of responsibility for ship safety to include the role of charterers and cargo owners; • Providing leadership in regional forums to adopt targeting techniques and improve ship data collection and exchange. National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements: Output 1.3 AMSA implemented the emergency towage capability consistent with the Australian Government’s National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements, including: • Contracting a provider for the dedicated emergency towage vessel in the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait; • Contracting commercial providers for an agreed level of emergency towage services in regions around the Australian coast; • Establishing arrangements for coordinating, monitoring and regulating emergency response to ship incidents; • Administering cost recovery arrangements through the Protection of the Sea levy. Safety is Our Business 3 Search and Rescue: Output 2.1 AMSA’s search and rescue capability was enhanced from additional funding provided in the 2004 and 2005 Federal Budgets, including: • Commissioning of two Dornier turbine engine aircraft dedicated to search and rescue in Darwin in October 2005 and Perth in August 2006 with another three aircraft to commence progressively in Cairns and Melbourne in late 2006 and Brisbane in early 2007; • Development of a new AMSA Disaster Recovery Facility to support the upgrading of AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre to an Emergency Response Centre by the end of 2006. • Purchase of new equipment to improve search and rescue services. National and International Conferences AMSA shipping workshops to inform stakeholders of safety and marine environment protection developments were held in 2005 in Perth, Sydney and Darwin and in 2006 in Townsville and Melbourne and a small ships symposium was held on the Gold Coast. Planning is underway for the international oil spill conference, Spillcon2007, in Perth in March 2007. The Dornier turbine engine aircraft commissioned in Perth, WA in August 2006. 4 Safety is Our Business Chairman’s Report AMSA recorded several noteworthy achievements during 2005-2006 in implementing the new emergency towage arrangements, enhancing its search and rescue capability, promoting ship safety, particularly in the Torres Strait, and in monitoring ship compliance with international safety and environment protection standards. The major elements of the Australian Government’s National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements (NMERA) were implemented by AMSA twelve months ahead of schedule and at the lower