What Article 114¹⁵ regulates
Article 114¹⁵ of the Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia is one of the most detailed norms in the field of maritime safety: it governs breaches of maritime security standards committed by a port facility and by the administration of an oil and gas terminal located on the territory of a port. The norm covers the readiness of berths, the monitoring of depths, the operation of cranes, the mooring lines of ships, lighting, order after cargo operations, fire-fighting systems and even the use of tobacco on the territory. For each element the law provides a separate measure, and repetition almost always doubles the amount. Such a level of detail is understandable: a port is a space where heavy equipment, tanks, gas, hot-metal processing and people operate simultaneously, and where a small defect in an apparently minor detail — lighting, a mooring line or an alarm — increases the probability of a disaster affecting the entire port.
Demanding the entry of a ship into the port and its berthing when the berth is not ready to receive the ship is punished by a fine of 5,000 GEL, and on repeated commission — 10,000 GEL. Failure to perform the duty of monitoring and maintaining the water depths required for safe navigation amounts to 1,000 GEL, and on repetition — 2,000 GEL; the same duty with respect to the entrance channel of the port is assessed far more strictly — 10,000 GEL and, on repetition, 20,000 GEL. The difference is logical: the channel is the gateway of the entire port, and its defect affects every ship.
Territory rules and cargo operations
A breach of the rules on the use of tobacco on the territory of the port is punished by 1,000 GEL, and on repetition — 2,000 GEL. Oxy-gas cutting of ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap outside specially designated places, or by a person whose qualification does not meet the requirements, is punished by 5,000 GEL, and on repetition — 10,000 GEL. The jib of a port crane extending beyond the berth on the sea side during berthing, and the coastal cranes not being turned properly after the completion of a cargo operation, are assessed at 5,000 and, on repetition, 10,000 GEL. The absence of the prescribed number of the ship's mooring lines when berthing — 2,000 GEL, on repetition 4,000 GEL; insufficient lighting of the berthing place — 5,000 GEL, on repetition 10,000 GEL. The positioning of elevator pipes so as to interfere with the berthing or movement of the ship — 2,000 GEL, on repetition 4,000 GEL; failure to clean the cargo operation area of debris — 5,000 GEL, on repetition 10,000 GEL. The most severely assessed act is dumping or washing debris from the berth into the sea or into the drainage system of the berth — 15,000 GEL and, on repetition, 30,000 GEL, since it directly harms the marine environment.