It must become clearer what regulations water taxis have to comply with. To achieve this goal, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is adapting the Inland Shipping Regulations. This is one of the ways in which the Ministry is following up on the recommendations of the Dutch Safety Board.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) launched an investigation following a collision between a water taxi and a speedboat on the Wadden Sea and a collision between a water taxi and a harbour tour boat in Rotterdam. The investigation reports contain a total of five recommendations for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Mark Harbers: ‘The tragic accident in the Schuitengat has left deep marks on the relatives, eyewitnesses and emergency workers. No people were killed in the accident in Rotterdam, but the accident nevertheless had a major impact on all those involved. Safety on our waterways is most important. The Ministry embraces all the DSB’s recommendations and started working on them immediately.’
Also read: DSB after water taxi incident: Nieuwe Maas shipping needs more direction
Consultation and unambiguous legislation
Based on the recommendations, a consultation has started between the parties involved in passenger transport on the Wadden Sea, including Rijkswaterstaat, the Environmental and Transport Inspectorate, the Ministry and the industry. Safety, enforcement, communication and regulations are being discussed in three working groups.
In addition, according to the DSB, there need to be more unambiguous laws and regulations for the commercial transport of up to twelve passengers on water. Within the current rules, it is now unclear which regulations apply to water taxis. Therefore, the applicable regulations from the Inland Shipping Regulations (Binnenvaartregeling) will be amended to make it clear that they apply to the water taxi category.
Also read: Water taxi and ferry that collided in Wadden Sea were sailing too fast
Using AIS data
The Ministry is also investigating what data from an Automatic Identification System (AIS) could mean for enforcement. This too was a recommendation of the DSB. This involves identifying the possibilities and conditions for using this AIS data.
Also read: DSB: Fatal collision shows need for better sailing behaviour and regulations on Wadden Sea
Water taxi accidents
In the collision in the Schuitengat on the Wadden Sea between the speedboat Tiger and the water taxi Stormloper, three passengers were killed, one passenger is still missing. Several people on board were also injured.
In the collision in Rotterdam on the Nieuwe Maas between the harbour tour boat Marco Polo and the water taxi MSTX 21, the water taxi ended up upside down in the water. In the process, the six occupants became trapped in the overturned vessel. One person was injured in the process, but everyone could eventually be rescued with help from other vessels.
On 6 December 2023 and 17 January 2024, the DSB published its investigation reports on both accidents.
Photo: Water taxi in Rotterdam (by S.J. de Waard, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license).
Also read: Two dead and two missing after water taxi and ferry collide near Terschelling
