1 On April 2006, a collision of a high-speed craft
with driftwood occurred off the Japanese coast, which caused over
100 injuries. Accidents due to floating obstacles such as driftwood
could happen not only in the vicinity of Japan, but also in other
parts of the world.
2 SOLAS regulation
V/31, “Danger Messages”, prescribes that “The
master of every ship which meets with dangerous ice, a dangerous derelict,
or any other direct danger to navigation, … is bound to communicate
the information by all means at his disposal to ships in the vicinity,
and also to the competent authorities”. It is obvious that driftwood
and other floating obstacles are regarded as “direct danger
to the safety of navigation”.
3 In order to prevent similar accidents, it is
important to collect information on driftwood and other floating obstacles
and to notify ships in the vicinity of such information. Thus, the
Member States are invited to ask ships that detect driftwood and other
floating obstacles (including containers, other large cargo items,
etc.) which could cause a maritime accident, especially for a high-speed
craft, to communicate the information to ships in the vicinity and
competent authorities, in accordance with SOLAS regulation V/31.