Tag: EU

The ShipArrestor is one of the 50 chosen innovations Norwegian company Miko Marine says that its ShipArrestor system has now completed development and has been chosen to be exhibited at the first European Innovation Convention in Brussels.The ShipArrestor is one of the 50 chosen innovations from a 1,200-strong list of projects funded by the European Union. It has been developed, from an original idea by Miko Marine, by a consortium of eight European organisations and was partly funded under the EU research, innovation and competitiveness framework programmes. The project group included organisations from France, Germany, Netherlands and Austria as well as the Norwegian Institute of Technology and the UK's Ship Stability Research Centre.The system enables a tow line to be attached by helicopter to an unmanned ship that has lost power. The tow line ends in a sea anchor that is able to halve the speed of the ship's drift and create more time for it to be reached by a rescue tug before it runs aground. Each of the participating organisations contributed their own expertise and experience to the project, which Miko Marine says is now recognised as offering a practical and cost effective defence against the environmental and ...

Council of the European Union adopted various conclusions relating to Somalia The Council of the European Union (EU) issued a press release stating that the Council adopted various conclusions relating to Somalia.Among these was an appeal to Somali stakeholders to implement agreed tasks including development and implementation of an effective maritime security and counter-piracy policy.For more information, click here.Source: EU News

Failure to comply will trigger initiation of EC procedure Filipino seamen were nearly banned earlier this year from manning ships registered with European Union (EU) member-countries as a result of substandard maritime courses offered by some Philippine maritime schools.This imminent danger had finally galvanized various government agencies, especially the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), into action and finally move to close non-compliant maritime courses of about four schools including two maritime courses of the PMI Colleges, which has campuses in Manila and Quezon City last month.Early last May, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) of the European Union had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Philippines was no longer considered compliant with the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW).This finding was made after the EMSA had conducted an independent audit of Philippine maritime schools and reported its findings on gross deficiencies.DFA Assistant Secretary Leslie Baja, in a letter dated last May 11, had sent a letter to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz which relayed the warning given by the EMSA of a possible withdrawal of recognition of the Philippines' STCW training and certification system."Failure to comply will trigger initiation of EC procedure ...

To prevent accidents like Deepwater Horizon The European Commission on Friday proposed new rules to force oil-drilling companies to pay for pollution caused up to 200 nautical miles off European coastlines.Under the proposals, the "polluter pays" principle for damages by oil and gas conmpanies will be extended to 200 miles (about 370 kilometres) against the current 12 nautical miles."Today, most oil and gas in Europe is produced offshore, often in harsh geographical and geological conditions. Given our growing energy demand, we will need all the oil and gas from beneath our seas," said EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger."But we need to prevent accidents like Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico from happening," he said.The April 2010 blast killed 11 people and sent some 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf over a three-month period, wreaking havoc on the region's environment and economy. It took BP 85 days to stem the flow from its leased rig.Europe's worst oil disaster was the 1988 destruction in a fire of the Piper Alpha rig off Scotland in July 1988, which killed 167 men. The rig was later judged to have been ill-maintained and overcrowded.Of 1,000 platforms in the EU, 486 are ...

Commission says new laws needed to prevent another Deepwater Horizon The European Commission has warned that the likelihood of a Deepwater Horizon-type accident in the North Sea remains "unacceptably high" as it outlined new laws to counter the danger.The moves have angered the UK government and offshore oil industry while threatening to put a brake on some of the huge profits declared by big North Sea operators Shell and ExxonMobil.Brussels officials defended their plans to in effect seize overall control of North Sea regulation from the British authorities."We need to prevent accidents like Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico from happening," said energy commissioner Günther Oettinger. "Securing best industry practices in all our offshore operations is an undisputable must. Today's proposal is a crucial step forward towards safer offshore activities to the benefit of our citizens and our environment."In Britain the Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was "very concerned" the moves could undermine its already strong safety regime. The Oil & Gas UK industry association said it opposed the proposals.Malcolm Webb, chief executive of the association, said: "Relinquishing regulatory control to the EU, which has no established competence in this matter and where only three out ...

Carbon pricing on the shipping sector is innovating and promising source European Union finance ministers have indicated support for the carbon pricing of international maritime and aviation transport.The ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, adopted conclusions on climate finance ahead of the UN climate change conference in Durban next month.At the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, developed countries agreed to mobilise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to climate change and develop low carbon technologies. Since then, governments have been discussing the details of how to spend the money.Carbon pricing on the shipping and aviations sectors has been recognised as one of the most promising innovative finance sources by the upcoming G20 report on Mobilising Climate Finance.Development NGO Oxfam International, cautiously welcomed the conclusions of the meeting, but stressed that the EU should go further and "ensure that there are clear commitments that finance raised from these and other sources should be spent through the Green Climate Fund, agreed at last year's UN climate conference in Cancún, and not go through national budgets as it risks disappearing in national coffers".After the meeting Oxfam spokesperson Lies Craeynest said "a charge on dirty shipping fuels to finance climate action ...

Transfer of persons detained by EUNAVFOR The European Union has approved an agreement signed between the European Union and the Republic of Mauritius on 14 July 2011 regarding the transfer of persons suspected of attempting to commit, committing or having committed acts of piracy within the area of operation of EUNAVFOR, on the high seas off the territorial seas of Mauritius, Madagascar, the Comoros Islands, Seychelles and Réunion Island, and detained by EUNAVFOR.According to the agreement, Mauritius may accept, upon request by EUNAVFOR, the transfer of persons detained by EUNAVFOR in connection with piracy and associated property seized by EUNAVFOR, and submit such persons and property to its competent authorities for the purpose of investigation and prosecution.Source: European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA)

Shipping industry needs support for reaching the environmental targets The European Union is pushing more cash towards maritime projects either through project funding, or through a review of the lending policy of the European Investment Bank.Both moves could indicate a growing conviction that the industry needs more help in reaching the environmental targets being set for it.A Brussels working document published last week highlights the ways that some owners can benefit. What it does not do is offer support for any demands that the 2015 date for using low sulphur fuels be pushed back to 2020 as some owners and lobby organisations in North Europe have been hoping.The EU sulphur directive will be amended through an as yet provisional revision, to mirror the International Maritime Organisation rules for both emission control areas and the rest of the world.The European emission control areas consist of the North and Baltic seas, and the English Channel. The waters surrounding North America will also become an ECA in 2015. In these areas the permitted sulphur emissions drop to 0.1%. In the rest of the world it remains at the much higher 3.5% until 2020 when it drops to 0.5%. The IMO, when it wrote ...

Pollutant emission reduction from maritime transport The European Commission adopted a Staff Working Paper "Pollutant emission reduction from maritime transport and the sustainable waterborne transport toolbox". The Commission Staff Working Document is accompanying the legal proposal for an amendment of Directive 1999/32/EC and the Communication on the review of the implementation of Directive 1999/32/EC related to the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels. The proposed legislation aligns EU law with the latest IMO requirements. As of 1 January 2015 a new limit of 0.1 % on the maximum allowable sulphur content of any fuel oil used on board ships within the European designated Suphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) is introduced. Other areas are to achieve an cut, from 4.5 % down to 0.5 % by 1 January 2020.In view of the foreseen technical and operational challenges for the shipping industry to comply with the new standards, the Staff Working Paper outlines a series of assisting measures to foster sustainable shipping. In the short term the Paper highlights the existing frameworks that may be of assistance such as the TEN-T Work programme 2011, the Marco Pollo II Work programme for 2011 and the European Investment Bank's policy and instruments in support ...

The Philippines flip-flop The apparent disconnect between the European Union and the International Maritime Organization over Filipino seafarers' standards of competency raises some interesting questions.One the one hand, the Europeans have raised the threat of de-recognising the country's certificates after an inspection by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) found fault with the standards of training and the supervision of those standards. The threat was taken so seriously by The Philippines Government that it announced last week it had made a full report to Brussels outlining how it had dealt with the deficiencies. (It remains to be seen whether the EC has accepted the Asian country has put its house in order.)On the other hand, the same government proudly announced in July (i.e. while it was still dealing with the EU's concerns) it had "for the third time" (the other two occasions were in 2005 and 2009) retained its presence on the IMO's so-called White List of countries deemed to be in compliance with the UN agency's Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention."The White List," Rosalinda Baldoz, the country's Labour and Employment Secretary said at the time, "affirms the capacities and diligence of The Philippines in ensuring the ...