The creation of a joint Green Technology and Alternative Fuels Platform for Shipping
Enhanced regional cooperation on alternative fuels for ships have been a key matter in the Meeting of HELCOM Maritime Group closing last week, which has followed up various maritime commitments of the HELCOM Copenhagen Ministerial Meeting in October 2013. Other agenda items include safety of navigation; ballast water; sewage discharges and port reception facilities and the detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders of anti-pollution regulations.
The creation of a joint “Green Technology and Alternative Fuels Platform for Shipping” was agreed upon last month at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting, attended by all the Baltic coastal states and the EU as HELCOM Contracting Parties. The idea behind the platform is to gather national administrations, industry, research community and NGOs involved in green technologies and alternative fuels. The platform is currently emerging and a joint event for 16 January 2014 is currently organised by HELCOM, the Finnish presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), Baltic Development Forum (BDF) and the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics (NDPTL). The platform is also related to the activities around the “St. Petersburg initiative”, an international network to unite governmental, business and financing organizations for Baltic Sea cooperation established at the St. Petersburg summit April 2013.
A revised HELCOM compilation of statistics on cruise ship visits and sewage port reception facilities in Baltic Sea ports was also discussed at the meeting. The latest meeting of the HELCOM Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities in the Baltic Sea, organised on 25 November 2013, provided updates for this overview to be published in early 2014. The Platform works to support the HELCOM countries in their work to upgrade the facilities so they are in position to report to IMO that adequate port reception facilities are available for the MARPOL Annex IV Special Area regulations to take effect.
The Meeting attracted 47 registered participants and it was chaired by Ms. Lolan Eriksson (Finland), the Chair of the HELCOM Maritime Group.
| Maritime transportation in the Baltic Sea region has steadily increased during the past decade. On the average, 2,000 ships are at sea every day. By 2017, maritime transport of goods in the region has been estimated to double. |
Source: HELCOM
