Ships sailed smoothly into international ports on Thursday as a tough new maritime security law showed no signs of hurting commerce with governments choosing to avoid meting out penalties for non-compliance that had threatened to delay sea-borne trade.
Most of Asia's major shipping lines and key container ports had met a United Nation's imposed July 1 deadline to implement the new anti-terrorist measures, and authorities appeared willing to overlook vessels arriving from non-compliant ports.
In Europe, where most mega-ports were in full compliance, there were no reports of early snags with authorities appearing comfortable with the transition.
That was despite about half the world's ports and 53 percent of global shipping being compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) on the eve of the deadline, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Failure to comply with the new code could have meant a time-consuming inspection by port authorities or, in an extreme case, a ship being ordered back to sea.
"We have received 20 reports from ports around the Asia-Pacific region and no delays or detentions have been reported at this moment," said Mitsutoyo Okada, deputy secretary at the Tokyo MOU Secretariat, an umbrella body for port control in Asia-Pacific.
The ISPS code, signed by 147 governments, requires port operators, stevedoring companies and owners of ships larger than 500 tons to draw up plans for responding to a terror threat, implement tighter security around facilities and train staff.
In Europe, many leading ports were compiling feedback on compliance though leading organisations and major ports said they expected little immediate disruption.
Rotterdam, Europe's biggest port, said it would have a full report later in the day, but a spokesman said he did not foresee any disruption to trade or major incidents involving non-compliant ships.
"We are at the centre of the big cargo shipping lanes, so ports like ours, have been very security conscious for years. Shady shipping lines and murky flags of convenience are unlikely to call here as we are at the top of the pyramid," a spokesman said.
He said even if a ship were to arrive without a ship security certificate it would not be turned away or even fined because the Netherlands had "no legal basis" to do so.
"What we might do is delay it a little bit, subject to more rigorous questioning, and delays cost firms money so no one likes it, but we do not have such powers under Dutch law."
The Paris MOU, which overseas maritime safety and security in 13 EU countries, as well as Russia and Canada reported it was business as usual.
"Things are going much as we'd anticipated they would go, but we are just starting," said Richard Schiferli, general secretary, who said it could take some days and weeks to get a clear picture of compliance.
Other major ports like Antwerp, Le Havre, Hamburg and Bremerhaven were awaiting feedback.
In Britain, the Department of Transport, said no compliance figures were immediately available.
"There may be some foreign-flagged vessels that come to the UK that don't have necessary certification and then we have a process and place to deal with that, but we don't have specific figures," a spokeswoman said.
Britain said that some "low risk ports" had missed the deadline, but its major ports were compliant.
In Singapore, which operates the world's largest transhipment hub, all 41 ships that visited the port by 0200 GMT on Thursday were compliant.
Traffic at Taiwan's two main international ports of Kaohsiung - the world's sixth largest container terminal - and Keelung moved smoothly throughout the day, with no vessels requiring searches, harbour officials said.
"The new rules probably won't affect Taiwan shipping as security at the island's ports is already very tight," said Winsor Huang, a senior executive at Taiwan's No 2 shipper, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.
All international ports and shipping companies in Taiwan had been certified as compliant with the ISPS code.