The rapporteur stressed the need to impose on shipping companies the obligation to register every passenger. The benefits of such a measure in terms of improving safety far outweighed all the administrative arguments against this. Among the key amendments tabled, Mr Watts highlighted the one which provided for immediate information on passengers, namely on the ship’s departure and not an hour later (the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster occurred 22 minutes after sailing). Finally, according to the rapporteur, the directive in question should apply to both the Channel Tunnel and all journeys in excess of two hours. Commissioner Kinnock said that he could accept Amendments Nos 8, first part, 9 and 12 which recommended increased flexibility in order to cope with specific situations. However, he was against Amendments Nos 5, 7 and 10 which attempted to impose a registration system on motor cars using railway shuttles as this fell outside the scope of this maritime directive. For similar reasons relating to the directive’s aim, the Commission could not accept Amendments Nos 1 to 4 or Amendments Nos 6 and 11.