Harbour Authority Receives DNV Certification

The Harwich Haven Authority is the first harbour authority in Europe to receive certification to Det Norske Veritas’s (DNV’s) Rules for Pilot Organisations. This innovative new standard from DNV covers many of the safety and environmental considerations concerning pilotage which are at the forefront of the United Kingdom Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions’s (DETR’s) draft Port Marine Safety Code, formulated following the recently completed Review of the Pilotage Act 1987. (The United Kingdom Government’s pilotage review came about as a result of the grounding of the SEA EMPRESS at Milford Haven in 1996.)

Describing the Rules as ‘An International Safety Management Code for pilot organisations’, Harwich Haven Authority Chief Executive Nigel Pryke said, ‘We had been looking for a people orientated safety and quality standard and found the DNV solution tailor made for a pilotage authority.’

Located on the United Kingdom’s east coast, Harwich Haven Authority is the conservancy and pilotage authority serving the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich, Ipswich and Mistley. It was in April this year that Harwich Haven Authority decided to seek certification under DNV’s Rules for Pilot Organisations. Within a relatively short time an assessment and audit of the organisation demonstrated that the Authority was meeting the standard without any non-conformities and thus eligible for certification.