EU sails closer to maritime single window

The European Parliament’s Transport Committee adopted a proposal to establish a “single window” through which the ocean carriers communicate with maritime authorities.    The European Parliament’s Transport Committee on Thursday adopted the European Commission proposal to establish a “single window” through which the ocean carriers communicate with Europe’s national maritime authorities.
   Currently, ocean carriers and their agents use myriad port community systems and national single windows across the European Union to report shipping data. 
   While the commission’s proposal, which was authored by Deirdre Clune, would allow national windows to continue operating, it would require their connection through a centralized EU “common access point interface.”
  Ocean carrier organizations, such as the World Shipping Council (WSC) and European Community Shipowners Associations (ECSA), “strongly support” the EU maritime single window proposal.
   “This would in no way replace the national single windows, nor interfere with their decision-making or the availability of data for individual ports. Nor would it jeopardize the safety of the crew, the vessel and its cargo or the port,” said Martin Dorsman, ECSA’s secretary general. 
   “It would simply route data directly from the maritime operator to the relevant national single window via one EU router and then relay back to the shipping company any responses from that national single window,” he said. “The benefit of a common EU access point is to eliminate any potential for divergent system requirements or deployment schedules that could happen with national deployments of the module over time.”
   “Another major benefit would result from a maritime carrier that is active in multiple member states only having to establish one IT connection in order to lodge required information,” added John Butler, WSC’s president and CEO.
   While the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) generally supports the single window initiative, it warned of potential costs and administrative burdens related to initiating the EU common access point interface.
   “We hope that the negotiators will go back to the commission proposal on that point and will understand that adding on layers will not facilitate but complicate the maritime reporting environment,” said ESPO Secretary General Isabelle Ryckbost.
   The organization said “considerable investments” will be required by the EU to develop the single window that connects to the national windows. “At the same time, ports which have already developed, bottom up, sophisticated and innovative systems for receiving, managing and reusing data, will not give up these state-of-the-art reporting channels, since these are fulfilling a lot more services than the reporting of the formalities falling under the scope of the current proposal,” ESPO said.
   The European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services; European Community Association of Ship Brokers and Agents; European Shippers’ Council; European Maritime Pilots’ Association; Federation of European Private Port Companies and Terminals; and International Port Community Systems Association voiced similar concerns with the EU-wide maritime reporting approach.
   During next week’s plenary session, the European Parliament is expected to endorse the mandate to start the single window negotiations with the European Council and reach agreement before the end of this Parliament session.