Port Security Plan

Port Security Plan

As a result of the terrorist acts of 11 September 2001, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted special measures to enhance maritime security against the threat of terrorism, which became concrete in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

On 31 March 2004, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Regulation EC No 725/2004 of 31 March 2004 on enhancing ship and port facility security. The maritime security measures imposed by this regulation represented only some of the measures necessary to achieve an adequate level of security throughout maritime-linked transport chains.

In this respect, that regulation was limited to security measures on board vessels and to the immediate port/ship interface. After the attacks in Madrid (11 March 2004) and London (July 2005) the EU understood that it was necessary to introduce additional protection measures and approved the Directive EC 2005/65 of 26 October 2005 requiring Member States to implement security measures for the rest of the port activity area and applied to ports with at least one Port Facility regulated by 725/2004. Finally, the R.D. 1617/2007 of 7 December transposes this Directive into the legislation of the Spanish State.

The Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has been working in this normative framework since the beginning to provide all its ports with the corresponding Protection Plans that have the purpose of complying with the above expressed, specifying the organisation, methods and procedures necessary to ensure the protection and safeguarding of passengers, crews, shore-based personnel, ships and port facilities against unlawful acts, preserving the efficiency of inter-island, domestic and international maritime traffic in ports.

The effort made by the Port Authority places Ports of Tenerife in the front line at national level in terms of protection, which has been recognized and endorsed by the relevant government agencies and the most prestigious shipping companies.