Guidelines on Procedures for Entering and Leaving Ports and Wharves for High-Speed Passenger Vessels

Procedures for entering and leaving ports and piers for high-speed passenger ships between ports, piers, and waters within Vietnam's inland waterways and across the border are guided in Circular 34/2019/TT-BGTVT as follows:

Illustrative image (source: internet)

- Procedures for entering and leaving inland waterway ports and piers are carried out according to the regulations of inland waterway law.- Procedures for entering and leaving seaports are carried out according to maritime law regulations.

For the temporary suspension of operations of high-speed passenger ships between ports, piers, waters within Vietnam's inland waterways, and across the border: The Ministry of Transport, regional Inland Waterway Sub-departments, and relevant Port Authorities shall suspend operations when they detect that high-speed passenger ships encounter incidents or accidents affecting the technical safety of the ships and shall only allow operations to resume with a written consent from relevant registry organizations confirming the ships meet the technical safety conditions to continue operations.

Additionally, Circular 34 also guides the handling of accidents within port waters, piers, and inland waterways as follows:

- Relevant organizations and individuals shall organize search and rescue in port waters, piers, and inland waterways according to the provisions in Article 1, Clause 22 of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to Certain Articles of the Law on Inland Waterway Transport dated June 17, 2014, and Decision 51/2015/QD-TTg dated October 14, 2015, by the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam on organization of search and rescue for inland waterway transport accidents, ensuring environmental protection according to the current law.

For handling accidents within seaport waters and maritime navigation channels:

- Relevant organizations and individuals shall handle accidents within seaport waters and maritime navigation channels following Decision 06/2014/QD-TTg dated January 20, 2014, by the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam promulgating the Regulation on coordination in search and rescue at sea and in seaport waters, and Circular 34/2015/TT-BGTVT dated July 24, 2015, by the Minister of Transport stipulating maritime accident reporting and investigation, and Circular 39/2017/TT-BGTVT dated November 7, 2017, amending and supplementing certain provisions of Circular 34/2015/TT-BGTVT dated July 24, 2015, by the Minister of Transport stipulating maritime accident reporting and investigation.

Further regulations can be found in Circular 34/2019/TT-BGTVT, effective from November 1, 2019.

Thu Ba

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