INTERTANKO’s Council met in Singapore – Association’s Annual Tanker Event
INTERTANKO’s Council met in Singapore this week during the Association’s Annual Tanker Event which also saw a one-day Executive Committee meeting. The Council meeting was followed by the Annual General Meeting and the Annual Dinner for 200 Members and Associate Members which, despite depressing market conditions, was an upbeat gathering.
Katharina Stanzel steps up as INTERTANKO’s Managing Director
INTERTANKO’s Council unanimously confirmed the appointment of its current Deputy Managing Director, Katharina Stanzel, as Managing Director of INTERTANKO effective 1st July 2012. The Council noted with pleasure that Joe Angelo will return to his previous position of Deputy Managing Director and Director for Regulatory Affairs and the Americas.
“We are delighted that Kathi has been confirmed as INTERTANKO’s next Managing Director,” says INTERTANKO Chairman Capt Graham Westgarth. “Kathi’s vision, and dedication and commitment to INTERTANKO and its Members will be invaluable as she takes over the leadership of our first-class international shipping association.
“We are also extremely pleased to have Joe continue with INTERTANKO as part of the leadership team. Joe agreed to take on the duties and responsibilities of Managing Director as part of our long-term succession plan and he has served us well in that capacity.”
Five-year strategic plan
INTERTANKO is in the process of finalising a five-year strategic plan, whose main objectives are to look ahead and ensure that, given the realities of today’s regulatory and economic climate, the Association is well-positioned to face the challenges expected.
The Council agreed that the most likely scenario the tanker industry would face in the coming five years would be one of strong environmental concern within an unstable geopolitical state, and that the major issues confronting our Members during this period would be:
1. Sustainability of the tanker industry;
2. Human element
3. Tanker safety and performance
4. Global maritime security threats
5. Greenhouse gas emission reductions
6. Air emission reductions
7. Ballast water management.
The Council agreed that the overarching aim of the Association must be to engage proactively at every level, working with all stakeholders including regulators, to ensure that the interests of its Members are taken into account and that operational realities are considered, leading to regulation that is workable and practical.
There should also be a focus on developing industry co-operation, and on achieving a cohesive and proactive approach in getting governments to understand the consequences of their decisions, thereby influencing the outcomes of the political decision-making process.
The Council requested the Association’s Committees to further develop desired outcomes for each of the major issues, and tactical considerations on how to achieve them, consistent with the INTERTANKO’s four overarching strategic objectives – to develop and promote best practices, to be positive and proactive influence with key stakeholders, to profile and promote the tanker industry, and to provide key services to Members.
Sustainability
INTERTANKO’s Council remains deeply concerned about the current tanker market, and that Members have been struggling to cover their operating costs at prevalent market rates. It firmly believes that this situation cannot be maintained long term, and threatens the sustainability of oil tanker operation.
To assist INTERTANKO Members, the Council supported the development of an optimal speed model. This shows the relationship between the time charter equivalent earnings and CO2 emissions, based on a known freight rate for a specific route and different tanker speeds.
The objective is to provide Members with a tool that will allow them to achieve an optimal speed for their ships and voyages, to the benefit of the tanker operator and the environment, since reduced speed means reduced CO2 emissions.
ECA Guidelines
The Council reaffirmed that it wishes to continue to promote a global switch to cleaner fuels. Compliance with ECAs by use of cleaner fuels may be attractive when compared with the significant cost of fully equipping a ship with two or three scrubbers.
Compliance with IMO Emission Control Area (ECA) emissions limits means that for the period 2015 to 2020/2025, stricter SOx emissions limits in ECAs will result in the impact of compliance varying according to the time a ship spends in ECAs.
To help its Members, INTERTANKO has developed ECA Guidelines based on a number of specific technical, operational, safety and cost-efficiency elements which need to be considered by ship owners when choosing between alternatives for compliance with the ECA regulatory regime between 1 January 2015 and the enforcement of a global sulphur cap in 2020 or 2025.
These Guidelines are not intended to promote one means of compliance over another. They are intended to facilitate ship owners’ decisions on how to comply with the ECA regulatory regime, and to provide advice on the foreseeable impacts of each of the alternatives to meet ECA emission limits.
One section of the Guidelines details the operational and safety aspects to be considered when assessing exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers). It also list advantages of using cleaner fuels in existing ships and newbuildings.
To assist ship owners in their decisions on the means of compliance, the Guidelines include an “ECA Calculator” which allows the user to insert his own particular data and then calculates the payback period over which a ship can pay a premium for using cleaner fuels (max 0.10% sulphur content) instead of retrofitting scrubbers in order to comply with SOx emissions limitations in ECAs between 1 January 2015 and the enforcement of a global sulphur cap in 2020 or 2025.
Fuel quality
INTERTANKO will continue its campaign to promote the need of professional standards on quality control of bunkers delivered to ships, seeking the cooperation of other ship owner associations and of the bunker suppliers. INTERTANKO will increase its bunker quality reports to Members.
The Council finds it completely unacceptable that some EU ports, having no quality control requirements on bunkers delivered, consider off-spec bunkers onboard ships as “waste” and require costly de-bunkering to follow the EU Waste Directive.
Piracy
The Council emphasised above all else that it will continue to encourage INTERTANKO Members to wholly embrace the industry’s Best Management Practices for Protection against Somali Based Piracy (BMP 4).
It also noted the increased use of private and national armed guards on vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and reaffirmed that it believes it is the responsibility of the international navies to ensure the right of free passage on the high seas including the use of vessel protection detachments (VPDs) on merchant ships.
The Council expressed concerns about the issue of regulation of provision of armed guard services on merchant vessels, in particular as their use involves the use of force, including lethal force.
The Council reaffirmed that INTERTANKO does not advocate the arming of ships’ crews and that the use of private armed guards or government armed security forces onboard merchant ships has to be a matter for each individual owner or manager to assess as part of their voyage risk assessment.
In the context of UK Government setting up a Task Force to curtail ransom payments, the Council adopted a policy that stressed the need to maintain Members’ ability to make the lawful payment of ransoms, which shipowners recognise as a duty of care for their seafarers and the only certain exit strategy following a hijack.
The Council reaffirmed its support for the SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign which in its first 12 months has developed a very strong and distinctive brand, has secured broad mainstream media coverage of Somali piracy, and has helped achieve political recognition of Somali piracy as a real economic and humanitarian threat.
The campaign will be focusing on maintaining a hard-hitting website and active social media, together with a sustained outreach to the mainstream media. It will also be encouraging meetings around the world at the very highest levels between shipping industry and politicians.
Source: INTERTANKO
