Port players

 As the place where harbour officers carry out their duties, it constitutes a functional unit of the port and plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth flow of maritime traffic and the reception of vessels in the port.

 Responsible for putting in place the necessary arrangements for the integration of the vessel into the port complex and for ensuring the port authority’s ongoing presence amongst vessels and users. It also has a policing role, conferred upon it primarily by the Maritime Ports Code. Port officers inspect and monitor port facilities and ensure compliance with police regulations. They coordinate rescue operations for vessels in distress. Their remit covers a wide range of areas, from prevention and enforcement to the regulation of port traffic: they regulate the order in which vessels enter and leave the port, allocate berths, monitor manoeuvres, and direct and coordinate movements. Port officers ensure compliance with all general and specific regulations concerning port policing and operations.

• Organisation of the reception of ships;
• Management of vessel movements in the port;
• Allocation of berths for vessels;
• Monitoring and maintenance of port facilities;
• Monitoring of water bodies and waterways;
• Monitoring of pollution and incidents that may affect the safety of the port and vessels;
• Acting as a relay for alerts to the emergency services, government departments and prefectures in the event of incidents within the port district;
• Organisation of disaster relief operations;
• Management and regulatory monitoring of hazardous and non-hazardous goods in transit through the port;
• Enforces the Ports Code;
• Waterways Police;
• Environmental police;
• Signage police;
• Enforces the port’s specific regulations;
• Checks that regulatory documents from shipping agents are correctly transmitted via the Port Information System to the relevant government departments

It also provides a range of services, such as:

• Dissemination of notices to users;
• Marine weather information;
• Navigation bulletins;