Quo Vadis Direito da Segurança Marítima?

Maritime safety law only emerges with its full legislative force because of the wreck of the tanker "Torrey Canyon" in 1967. The approach to maritime safety has had several facets over the years, also as a consequence of the evolution of the technical conditions of navigation on board, as well as the early detection of possible threats. Over the last decades, an attempt has been made to extend the "Law of the Sea" to "Maritime Safety" which does not seem to make sense essentially because the "Law of the Sea" lies in the definition and identification of maritime spaces, the status of the ship and its interaction with those spaces, reasons that militate in favor of the autonomy of the "Maritime Safety Law", in which the starting point will be the Law of Security - defended today with autonomy - and that has as its legitimating source Article 94 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Flag State Duties) and its Part XII (Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment). Treating maritime safety as an autonomous branch and pillar of Public Law makes it possible to bring together the various conventions on the matter, making the accountability of shipowners and crew members more demanding, tracing a path towards its harmonization as part of the "codification".