SIMSA Officer in charge of the Operation Safe Boat (OSB) – 2016, Mr Derek Saru

SOLOMON Islands Maritime Safety Administration reports that so far this year’s operation is going smoothly and has been hailed a success so far.

This smooth flow of movement without hassles is attributed to the fact that people are now becoming to realise the importance of safety when travelling at sea.

Officer in charge of Operation Safe Boat – 2016 from SIMSA office, Mr Derek Saru made the statements during an interview with this paper yesterday.

He said since the Operation Safe Boat – 2016 came into effect some weeks ago, his office noticed that passengers are considering their safety first before choosing boats to travel.

Mr Saru pointed out that public has showed great improvement from past years when people were more ignorant to marine regulations.

He made examples that now passengers ensure that they buy their tickets before boarding the ship, and that if the number of passengers reach the threshold, they stop taking in more passengers.

Mr Saru said this is indeed a good behavior shown and people must try to hold on to that at all time, in order to make a right travelling choice for them at all time.

On the same note, Mr Saru also noted that due to the huge number of bigger ships in the domestic fleet, the pressure on passengers and shipowners has somewhat been addressed.

He said this is an improvement made and it really show people started to understand and respect the marine regulation, especially their safety at sea.

Mr Saru said that as New Year is approaching, passengers, ship owners and shipmasters to aware that the Operation Safe Boat – 2016 still stand as they will continue to monitor all vessels coming in and out of Honiara.