In response to the sinking of a sightseeing boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, the House of Councillors passed and enacted amendments to the Maritime Transportation Act, which includes the establishment of a test system for operation managers and the strengthening of penalties.
In response to the sinking of a sightseeing boat off the coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula in April last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) compiled 4 safety measures in seven areas.
Amendments to the Maritime Transportation Act, which were submitted to the Diet as including those that require legal revision, were approved and enacted with a majority of votes at a plenary session of the House of Councillors on the 28th.
In addition
to establishing a testing system for flight managers in order to eliminate unqualified operators and strengthen the safety management system, the revised law includes strengthening penalties, and increases fines to businesses up to 1 million yen for violating the
transportation safety order issued as an administrative penalty. The fine for individuals will be increased to 150.1 million yen, and imprisonment of up to one year will be imposed.
In addition, since the sinking accident pointed out that there were issues with the captain's decision to depart the ship, it was decided to expand the content of the course for obtaining a license and establish a new completion examination in order to improve the qualifications of the captain.
Minister Saito stated, "As Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, I would like to take responsibility and make every effort to ensure the safety and security of passenger ships so that a tragic accident never happens again."