The U.N. International Maritime Organization plans to meet Monday to pass new security regulations pushed by the United States as necessary, but criticized by others as “draconian” and expensive.

Regulations from the International Ship and Port Security Code are expected to be made into law as amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 6).

The U.S. Container Security Initiative has provided much of the impetus behind the new code, which would designate responsibilities for gathering information and detecting threats to shipping and ports (see GSN, Nov. 27).  A range of security levels would prompt different sets of security procedures in ports and on vessels.  On board, some crew members would be responsible for controlling and monitoring ships.  The new proposals might be amended, but they are expected to be passed in some form, the Financial Times reported.

The cost of implementing the new regulations has not been discussed in the effort to craft the code, said David Whitehead of the British Ports Association.  Those figures are being assessed now, according to the Times, and European port officials have said that the burden should fall on governments.

The U.S. container initiative has already placed burdens on shipping and the cost of future controls is difficult to estimate, said Chris Koch of the World Shipping Council.  Implementing the regulations included in the U.S. initiative has been like “trying to drink out of a fire hose,” Koch said.

“European transport operators feel they are being railroaded into all sorts of draconian measures,” one international trade official said (Toby Shelley, Financial Times, Dec. 5).

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