Assisting the maritime industry in regulatory compliance

Bryant's Maritime Consulting

Security

The major maritime security programs in use today have two separate, but related bases. On a worldwide scope, maritime secuirty is structured around the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code adopted on 12 December 2002 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In the United States, maritime security is structured around the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA), adopted by Congress on 22 November 2002. The ISPS Code and the MTSA are very similar. Indeed, the US Coast Guard considers, for foreign flag vessels, compliance with the ISPS Code to be equivalent to compliance with the MTSA for most purposes. The few differences between the two regimes may become significant at some future date, but, for now they are quiescent.



    logo11 Rebuilding the presumption of preemption

    In the May 2013 edition of Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, you can find my article entitled "Rebuilding the presumption of preemption". In the article, I discuss how federal control of maritime commerce prevailed over state control in the early days of the Republic. Over the years, that federal preemption has been eroded. It is time to rebuild the presumption in favor of federal preemption with respect to all matters related to maritime commerce. The industry should not be unregulated or even under-regulated, but it deserves to be uniformly regulated.