Directive 2001/96/EC: safe loading and unloading of bulk carriers
The EU directive of 4 December 2001 that makes BLU Code loading and unloading practice binding at member State terminals for bulk carriers of any flag.
Directive 2001/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2001 establishes harmonised requirements and procedures for the safe loading and unloading of bulk carriers. It does not transpose the IMSBC Code. It does something narrower and, at a European berth, more consequential: it converts the recommendatory practice of the BLU Code into binding law.
The directive applies to terminals in EU member States and to bulk carriers of any flag calling at them. It covers the suitability of terminals, the duties of the terminal representative, the ship and shore exchange of information, the agreed loading and unloading plan, and the power of the competent authority to halt operations. A non-EU flagged bulk carrier therefore meets BLU Code requirements as law rather than guidance whenever it works cargo in an EU port, which is the practical reason the BLU Code is treated as binding in trades it does not formally bind.
The underlying international instruments remain SOLAS regulation VI/7, which carries the mandatory obligations, and IMO resolution A.862(20), which carries the guidance. The full article will cover the directive’s articles and annexes, its amendments, the transposition position across member States and the enforcement practice at the major EU dry bulk terminals.