The FerrySafe project furthers Interferry’s longstanding engagement with safety issues on domestic routes in developing nations. The project was conceived by Interferry’s Ferry Safety Committee and is strongly supported by Interferry’s Board of Directors via the organization’s three-year strategic plan.

The initial project was comprised of two fact-finding missions in the Philippines undertaken by a team from Interferry, identifying a large number of safety measures that have been implemented underpinning the shifting attitude towards a general expectation of safe ferry travels.

More recently, Interferry has been active in Africa, including an initial ferry safety seminar organized in cooperation with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a follow-up workshop and a regional conference.

Taking place on April 16-17, 2024 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Africa Ferry Safety Seminar furthered Interferry’s commitment to reducing casualties in developing nations by promoting the highest maritime safety standards. Regulatory authority Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (TASAC) – with the support of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Tanzania – were fellow hosts of the event. Interferry and the IMO each invited around 50 industry representatives from African states most affected by domestic ferry accidents.

A follow-up workshop was held on October 30, 2024 in conjunction with Interferry2024, the 48th annual Interferry Conference in Marrakech, Morocco. The workshop was a strategic planning exercise, utilizing roundtable discussions to prioritize initiatives identified through post-seminar surveys. Participants then worked together to explore ways Interferry can support the implementation of these initiatives.

The 3 top ranked initiatives now form the priorities for the FerrySafe Committee. Specifically, the priorities are:

  1. To continue to host networking seminars and workshops in the developing world (with primarily an African focus) in cooperation with the IMO and organizations like MOWCA (Maritime Organization for West and Central Africa), sharing best practices related to building and supporting safety management systems as well as facilitating knowledge transfer related to asset and infrastructure development.
  2. Explore the feasibility of developing a trusted global ferry accident database, recording incident information that would provide learnings and insights for accident prevention.
  3. Build a mentoring program that will connect developing world operators with IF members to encourage, facilitate and expedite those operators in the journey of building world-class safety management systems.

In the latest chapter of its FerrySafe project and in pursuit of the priorities, Interferry took a leading role in addressing ferry safety in Africa with the Lagos Ferry Safety Conference, which took place on June 25-26, 2025, in Lagos, Nigeria. The conference was co-hosted by the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), underscoring the collaborative spirit needed to tackle this crucial issue.

The Lagos Ferry Safety Conference built upon the momentum generated by Interferry’s Africa Safety Seminar and the Africa Safety Workshop, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to the African continent by fostering dialogue, sharing best practices, and strengthening collaborations.

Complete details on these and future events can be found in the documents below.

For more information on FerrySafe contact: shari.corrigan@interferry.com.

Interferry and MOWCA Sign Landmark MOU to Advance Ferry Safety in West and Central Africa

Interferry Co-Hosts Lagos Ferry Safety Conference to Promote Maritime Safety in West and Central Africa

Interferry Announces Follow-Up Workshop on African Ferry Safety in conjunction with Interferry2024 in Marrakech (PDF).

Interferry and the IMO conclude successful Africa Ferry Safety Seminar in Dar es Salaam

FERRYSAFE – Report on the Fact-finding Missions to the Philippines (PDF)

The FERRYSAFE project team formed by global trade association Interferry to study pronounced safety advances in Philippines ferry operations has completed the second of two visits to the country and is now developing best practice guidance to assist the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other developing nations.

Week-long visits were made to political capital Manila in March and ferry capital Cebu in late May. Lessons learned suggest there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to explain how ferry fatalities in the Philippines have gradually fallen from highest in the world over the past 50 years to being much closer to the global average during the current decade. However, industry-wide discussions consistently identified some paramount factors, notably:

  • government willingness to facilitate change
  • the development of reasonably stringent regulations
  • weather-dependent prohibition of sailing permits (no-sail policy)
  • the presence of local enforcement personnel
  • the importance of insurance and insurance surveys

In Manila, 44 informal interviews were held spanning shipowners, operators, regulators, naval architects, shipyards, classification societies, surveyors, insurers, the coastguard authority, tourism agencies, customers and media commentators.

The follow-up Cebu visit involved a further 22 interviews, including meetings with top national and regional officials from the maritime authority MARINA and the Cebu Port Authority. The team also visited shipyards, observed several Philippines Coast Guard pre-departure inspections and undertook seven ferry crossings on vessels of wide-ranging type, age and size. Additional insights came from a three-hour session with highly engaged members of the regional Passenger Ship Spotting Society – one of whom survived a ferry capsize in 2005.

Conceived by Interferry’s domestic safety committee, the FERRYSAFE initiative is supported by a grant from UK charity the Lloyd’s Register Foundation covering direct expenses, while man-hours are being contributed by the four team members.

Team leader Dr Neil Baird is founder and chairman of Australia’s world-renowned publisher Baird Maritime and last year completed a doctorate on the causes and prevention of fatal ferry accidents. Alongside him are two fellow members of the domestic safety committee – Johan Roos, Interferry regulatory affairs director, and Edwin Pang, UK general manager of naval architects Leadship, who chairs the Royal Institution of Naval Architects IMO committee. They were joined by writer and editorial researcher Nelson Dela Cruz, a volunteer with Philippine non-profit organisation the Maritime League, acting as facilitator.

Mr Roos comments: “By and large our initial findings from Manila were reinforced by this second visit. We were able to dig deeper into a number of government and agency interventions that have made a real difference towards the positive developments we have seen in the Philippines over the past decade.”

He added that the importance of insurance and insurance surveys was a major new insight, noting: “Previously, we did not have a good grip on how the national hull and P&I markets worked – we were told by insurance experts back in Europe that the Philippines ferry market was ‘not insurable’. We have learned, however, that requirements from national insurance companies have actually been a strong driver. Our further deliberations will keep pulling on that thread.”

Looking ahead, Mr Roos concluded: “The positive trend that led us here has been corroborated by all the stakeholders we met. We have good reason to remain hopeful for the future development of safety standards in the Philippines and for our ability to condense their success into something exportable to other countries.”

The FERRYSAFE team will draft its report to be presented at Interferry’s 44th annual conference and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation conference, both taking place in London in October. Dissemination to other developing nations – particularly in SE Asia and Africa – will follow mainly via Interferry’s ongoing participation in the ASEAN regional ferry safety forum and through its involvement with the IMO’s Safety Committee and Technical Cooperation program.

“Lessons from Manila” – article in May/June 2019 issue of Ship and Boat International (PDF)

A four-man team from global trade association Interferry will be in Manila from March 18-22 in the first stage of a project to study significant safety improvements in Philippines ferry operations and produce a ‘lessons learned’ report to help other developing nations.

The FerrySafe project team has arranged one-hour meetings with a wide range of stakeholders to learn how fatal incidents have been reduced to almost nil in recent years from a peak of 1,001 deaths in 2008.
The informal talks are taking place throughout the week at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel following invitations to shipowners, operators, regulators, naval architects, shipyards, classification societies, surveyors, insurers, the coastguard authority, tourism agencies, customers and media commentators.
Following Manila, a second round of dialogue in the Philippines is scheduled for this summer with visits to shipyards and operators in the Cebu area.

FerrySafe furthers Interferry’s longstanding engagement with safety issues on domestic routes in developing nations, which account for 93% of an almost certainly under-estimated 1,200 fatalities per year. The project was conceived by the association’s domestic safety committee and is being backed by a £40,000 grant from UK charity the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which supports safety-enhancing education and research in transport and engineering. The grant covers all direct expenses of the project, while team members are contributing man-hours worth an additional £30,000.

The team leader is Dr Neil Baird, founder and chairman of Australia’s Baird Maritime – one of the world’s leading maritime publishers – who last year completed a doctorate on the causes and prevention of fatal ferry accidents. He is joined by two fellow members of the domestic safety committee – Interferry regulatory affairs director Johan Roos and naval architect Edwin Pang, general manager of Leadship’s UK office and current chair of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects IMO committee. The team is completed by writer and editorial researcher Nelson Dela Cruz, a volunteer with Philippine non-profit organisation the Maritime League, who is acting as facilitator.

Preliminary findings from the two visits will be presented at Interferry’s 44th annual conference in London in October and the final report is due by the end of the year. Dissemination to other developing nations will be primarily through the association’s involvement with the ongoing ASEAN Regional Forum on ferry safety and through its consultative status at the IMO.

“The ambition is to take the findings from our Philippines research to other countries and facilitate their implementation,” says Mr Roos. “This will require additional external funding and cooperation. The largest improvement potential is found in SE Asia and Africa, but – apart from the funding – we would need political support from the respective countries as well as the IMO.”

EXPLORE MORE…

READ REGULATORY REPORTS
REGULATORY PRIORITIES FOR 2024
OPERATORS POLICY COMMITTEE
REGULATORY SUBCOMMITTEES
INTERFERRY AND THE IMO