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Traditional ships are not ordinary passenger ships
10-7-2015
 The Directive for passenger ships on domestic voyages 2009/45/ec is the modern safety standard. It derives from the SOLAS passenger ship convention and largely shares its scope and definitions. From the technical requirements it quickly becomes clear that modern ships and not traditional ships are addressed. There is no mentioning of rigging, sails or stability under sail. There no mentioning of paddle wheels either. The Commission at various occasions stated that traditional ships fall outside the scope of the Directive. All European Member States with traditional ships have national safety regulations for traditional ships. But when it comes to foreign ships, some authorities do not recognize the visiting ship to be exempted from the Directive or SOLAS by their own flag. Root of the problem may well be that the grounds for exemption mentioned in SOLAS and the Directive are not very clear.
According to the Dutch government, sailing vessels are meant when the Directive exempts "ships not propelled by mechanical means". Others disagree. Denmark claims that their sailing vessels belong to the exempted category of "original, and individual replicas of, historical passenger ships designed before 1965, built predominantly with the original materials". Others do not concur.
The EC has no intentions of drafting new rules dedicated to traditional sailing ships (a solution that would solve the problem) because it lacks mandate. The Commission however is willing to try to more specifically exempt traditional ships from the existing DR 2009/49 and so improve chances for bilateral agreements between Member States on the national certification of traditional ships. Off course Member States must approve of the intentions of the Commission. EMH will ask the Commission to convincingly make the case for the exemption of our ships from the directive. It would help the acceptance of national and dedicated safety regimes for traditional ships.
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