On March 23, the State Water Transport Administration held a seminar on the topic: «Track works on inland waterways of the Republic of Belarus: innovations and development prospects».
The seminar was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, as well as industry enterprises.
In his welcoming speech, Andrey Chernobylets, Head of the Department of Sea and River Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, noted the importance of the event for the entire water transport industry and also expressed confidence in a constructive and productive dialogue on all aspects of the water structure’s work available today.
The speakers of the event were competent employees of the State Water Transport Administration.
During the preparatory period for the new navigation period, the State Water Transport Administration and enterprises closely cooperated on the settlement of contractual relations for the performance of track work on the inland waterways of the Republic of Belarus. Tatyana Ponomarenko, Legal Adviser of the Department of Inland Waterways, Development and Regulation of the port Authority, focused attention on the key points of the public procurement procedure, and also recalled the basic rights and obligations of the parties to the contract.
Sergey Yanchuk, Head of the Department of Inland Waterways, Development and Regulation of Port Activities, spoke about the procedure for organizing the acceptance of track works He noted that to date, the work will be taken in accordance with the Instructions on the Procedure for performing Track Work and Maintenance of Navigable Hydraulic Structures on the Inland Waterways of the Republic of Belarus. However, since the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus is working on making changes to this Instruction, the order of acceptance of works will be adjusted with the introduction of changes and enterprises will be notified of the innovations in a timely manner.
Monitoring of shipping conditions and providing this primary information to interested organizations is one of the activities of the State Water Transport Administration. Alexander Efimenko, Head of the Department for the Development of Inland Waterways, said that on the basis of this information received, the institution will prepare newsletters, some of the information will be freely available on the website for all users. Also, the attention of the guests of the event was drawn to the fact that the specialists of the State Water Transport Administration initiated the hydrological analysis of long-term data for the reference hydrological posts of surface water bodies included in the borders of the inland waterways of the Republic of Belarus in order to review and justify the design levels on the sections of inland waterways of the Republic of Belarus.
About some planned changes to the Resolution of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus No. 16 of July 17, 2001 «On the certification and attestation of the crew of vessels operated on inland waterways, with the exception of small vessels» was the topic of the speech of Yulia Ulyai, Deputy Head of the Department of Maritime Administration and Administrative Procedures. Among the main changes is the transfer to the institution of powers to carry out the certification and attestation of the ship’s crew, which will be borne by the merger of the two commissions into one independent – the diploma commission.
The report was also followed by a round table discussion, where everyone could express their wishes and suggestions on the organization of further work on the inland waterways of the Republic of Belarus, as well as discuss the prospects for development and the goals set.
The participants noted the need for such meetings for the fruitful development of the internal transport industry.