Aarhus administrative harassment
STUBNITZ INFO - 20100520 - Aarhus administrative harassment
Remember Amsterdam ?? -see SIM INFO - 20090914-16 - Amsterdam Administrative Harassment - http://www.stubnitz.com/med/?q=node/120.
Well, the same. Kind of. No same reasons but same result: No activities for one month now. We're starving to death, intellectually as well as physically.
A few lines about the administrative issues we’ve been facing last month. Please go back to above mentioned post for an introduction to those issues. Wait for next post for recapitulation.
As you remember, the first complication we faced last year in Amsterdam was related to the International Ship & Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) which since 2004 increasingly excludes public accessibility to shipping in general.
It led progressively to the loss of Hamburg and Amsterdam as regular destinations, while Rostock and Denmark remained relatively safe for us.
=>In Denmark are no security related troubles, as the local Port Facility Security Plans do not avoid certified ships in non certifies ports, the long there is no cargo handling & similar involved. Therefore Denmark became economically more and more important for our project.
=>Yet it all turned into a proper mess last month (20th of may 2010), the second complication being a specific Danish issue, not related to security- but to safety regulations:
Stubnitz, as a historic monument of the former East German fishing fleet, was not built as a passenger ship, and is sailing for her cultural purpose as a cargo vessel, and only has public visitors aboard when safely moored in a port. Stubnitz has a history of activities in Denmark since 2005.
Before the first project the Danish authorities decided that the shipping authorities shall be the inspecting body for the ship, and the Fire brigade shall - based on it - allow the number of visitors. For 2005 and 2006 we have received allowances for 600 visitors.
Then the shipping authorities claimed to be the only authorities in charge of allowances for the ship´s activities, and required investments to fulfill regulations for passenger ships, for the aboard venues, as far as applicable, and an approval of the according arrangement by the German flag State.
With having in mind the extraordinary cultural value of our projects in Copenhagen and the growing economical importance of this activities, we have, starting from 2008, proposed together with the German flag State specific improvements, followed by a long process of plan approvals (new set of evacuation analysis, fire division plan, evacuation plan, fire & safety plan) and therefore necessary building measurements (additional -exits from the venues, -gangways, -fire doors and -fire insulations).
In March 2009 a final agreement between the German and Danish authorities was settled, and in October 2009 we had this agreement accomplished. Since then Stubnitz has an arrangement for the visitors which is approved from the German flag.
And then, end of 2009 the Danish preparedness act changed the legislation for the Stubnitz activities, from the shipping authorities to the building authorities.
In March 2010 we have therefore lost a 4 weeks of scheduled activities in Copenhagen whilst establishing a new provisional agreement with the building authorities for just 450 visitors. Based on this we have scheduled a project in Aarhus where we are by now, and here the building authorities are not willing to give any allowance for our activities, unless we fulfill all requirements which would be mandatory for a newly built discotheque, according to the laws and regulations for permanent buildings.
As the ship would loose its status as a ship with it, and as we have run out of financial means without the expected income, Stubnitz is stuck for the moment.
