PLYMOUTH LOCAL NOTICE TO MARINERS 002/22
PORT MARINE SAFETY CODE - INFORMATION
1. This notice is issued for information by the Queens Harbour Master Plymouth.
2. In March 2000 the Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC) was introduced, and subsequently updated in October 2009 and November 2016. This specified a national standard for every aspect of port marine safety with the aim of improving safety for those who use or work in ports, their ships, passengers and cargoes, and the environment. It applies the principles of risk assessment and safety management systems to harbour authorities in the discharge of their legal duties and statutory powers. From 2018 the Ministry of Defence has directed that all Dockyard Ports should comply with the principles, so far as practicable, of the PMSC.
3. The documentation and procedures that the Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth has in place to monitor the management of the Dockyard Port of Plymouth, and subsequent audits, show the Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth to be an efficient, economic and effective (and thus as safe as possible), environmentally aware Statutory Harbour Authority.
4. General Management Policy
a. The Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth, using statutory powers to protect the port, will superintend and regulate the Dockyard Port of Plymouth in the Defence interest and aims to achieve real time water space management reconciling all activities on the water within harbour limits.
b. The Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth will support naval, commercial and private (including recreational) activities in the Dockyard Port of Plymouth through the provision of the appropriate management services to aid the safe navigation of all vessels within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth with primacy of Ministry of Defence operations being the overriding, but not exclusive, consideration.
c. The Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth will also support these activities through the efficient regulation of all users within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth in accordance with the Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 2020.
d. The Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth expects all Marine Facilities and Commercial Operarators within the Dockyard Port to comply, where applicable, with the principles of the PMSC.
5. Safety and Environmental Protection Policy
a The Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth will discharge general and specific statutory duties in accordance with the Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 2020 in respect of:
i) The regulation of traffic and safety of navigation within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
ii) The conservancy of the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
iii) The protection of the environment within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
b. And, for these purposes will:
i) Provide VTS services for the safe movement of naval, commercial and private vessels over 20 metres in length into, out of, and within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
ii) Carry out the functions of the Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth with regard to their possible impact on the environment.
iii) Create and promote interest and awareness, through the Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and the Port of Plymouth Marine Liaison Committee, with respect to safety and the protection of the environment within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
iv) Take a full part as the chair of the Tamar Estuary Consultative Forum and the Port of Plymouth Marine Liaison Committee in the implementation of the Tamar Estuaries Management Plan within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
v) Manage the water space within the Dockyard Port of Plymouth to facilitate and de-conflict recreational and competitive waterborne events from other port activities and each other, subject to appropriate risk assessment and event management information being provided by the organisers and accepted by the
Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth.
6. Business Objectives
a) The business objectives of the Queen’s Harbour Master Plymouth are to;
i) Meet the needs of the Ministry of Defence with respect to the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
ii) Protect the Dockyard Port of Plymouth.
iii) Meet the legitimate needs and aspirations of other port and water users, commercial and recreational.
7. Further information regarding the code may be sought by writing to The Queens Harbour Master Plymouth, or by contacting QHM’s Port Safety Officer on 01752 836508.
1st January 2022
