PHOENIX
Management Services Group has
significantly reduced its charges for
assessing Panama-flagged ships' ISPS
compliance by up to 25% after talks with
the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP)
earlier this week.
Charges
have been reduced from $1,500-$3,000 per
ship security plan to $950-$2,000 per
ship.
These
price objections were why Phoenix had
not received any of the 6,500 plans
needed to be approved by the July 2004
deadline, its managing director Jerry
Peterson said last Friday.
However
AMP administrator Bertilda Garcia said
more than 40 plans had been lodged with
Phoenix, as news of the price reduction
emerged. Following the Monday meeting,
Peterson was asked if Phoenix was happy
about the reduction. "That's a
tough question to ask. That's a hard
one. We have agreed to do it and it is
probably the right thing to do," he
said. Phoenix Management Services is the
sole Recognised Security Organisation to
approve ship security plans.
Who
will verify and issue the ship security
certificates is yet to be announced but
is expected to be undertaken by
classification societies.
