Seagoing vessels in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) are subject to supervision by inspectors from the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate who are responsible for shipping enforcement in the Caribbean Netherlands. Supervision is limited solely to enforcement inspections of Dutch and foreign commercial seagoing vessels. The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate does not grant any licences for seagoing vessels here.
Port State Control inspections
The inspectors from the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate who are responsible for shipping enforcement in the Caribbean Netherlands inspect seagoing vessels flying foreign flags in the ports and anchorages in the Caribbean Netherlands.
Amongst other things, the object of these inspections is to establish whether vessels are in compliance with international conventions on safety, the environment and working and living conditions. Examples include the conventions adopted in the IMO.
The Caribbean Netherlands is a member of the Caribbean MoU on Port State Control, whereby Port State Control inspections are carried out in the same way in all of the participating countries.
The object of Port State Control is to eliminate the operation of substandard vessels.
Flag State Control inspections
In the Caribbean Netherlands, inspections of seagoing vessels flying the Dutch flag are carried out on the basis of the same Inspection programme for Flag State control as in the Netherlands. As such, the selection of vessels, the performance of inspections and interventions are all carried out in the same manner.
Local shipping
The requirements for commercial seagoing vessels that are registered in the Caribbean Netherlands have been modernised and modified in line with international developments in the Caribbean Trading Area. These new maritime regulations are available from the website of the Rijksdienst Caribbean Netherlands (Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland).
Legislation: two Caribbean codes
The following two international Caribbean Codes apply:
- The Code of Safety for Small Caribbean Vessels (SCV-Code) for passengers and cargo ships between 5 and 24 metres long
- The Code of Safety for Caribbean Cargo Ships (CCSS-Code) for cargo ships of more than 24 metres in length but less than 500 GT.
Added to the above, separate rules apply for vessels used for local shipping near or around the islands. The codes above are considered too strict for these vessels. These vessels are expected to achieve compliance with Annex 6 of the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels (Regeling Veiligheid Zeeschepen (RVZ), only available in Dutch, which applies to vessels operating in the navigation area stated in Article 41 b of the Regulation Safety Seagoing Vessels, only available in Dutch.
Contact details
Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate Caribbean Region
(Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba)
Kaya International z/n | P.O. Box 357 | Kralendijk | Bonaire
Phone +599 715 8333
Phone outside office hours +599 795 9097
E-mail: nsicn@RijksdienstCN.com