Tag: ICS

The Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) held their 41st session at WMU from 1-4 September. Established in 1969, GESAMP is an advisory body that advises the United Nations (UN) system on the scientific aspects of marine environmental protection. The Mission of GESAMP is: "To provide authoritative, independent, interdisciplinary scientific advice to organizations and member Governments to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment." Each year, the partner UN agencies of GESAMP alternate hosting the annual meetings. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was this year's host agency and recommended the meetings be held at their apex institution for postgraduate education and research, the World Maritime University. WMU Alumnus, Fredrik Haag, is a Technical Officer at the IMO and was part of the administrative Secretariet in attendance. He noted that given the activities at WMU, with research and the students, it was decided it would be a good opportunity to bring the independent scientific group to the University for the annual session. Participants from 14 countries came together to discuss the agenda items that included evaluation of hazards of harmful substances carried by ships, review of applications for "active substances‟ in ...

The UK P&I Club issued a Knowledge bulletin regarding the stepped up enforcement in the North American ECA. In a new enforcement initiative, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), has boarded vessels to collect bunker samples to determine whether the vessels’ fuel sources meet the 1.0% fuel oil sulphur limit applicable within the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA). The EPA also disclosed that it has been “experimenting” with vessel flyovers to assess vessel smokestack plumes for the same purpose. The EPA’s unprecedented action, coming on the heels of its issuance of administrative subpoenas to several large companies operating ships within the North American ECA, announced stepped up efforts to enforce low sulphur fuel requirements within the North American ECA. Until this recent initiative, EPA and USCG officials seemed content to simply monitor compliance efforts by reviewing ECA-related records and documents such as Bunker Delivery Receipts during Port State Control inspections. These joint EPA/USCG initiatives to enforce fuel standards should serve as a warning to Club’s Members operating within the North American ECA. The commercial and legal consequences of a failure to comply with the ECA’s fuel oil sulphur limits ...

Ensuring the safety of crews visiting the affected countries Three global shipping organisations issued guidance on the risks posed to ships' crews calling in countries affected by the Ebola virus.ITF, IMEC and ICS-ISF have been in communication regarding the serious nature of the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. As such, we have agreed that strong recommendations should be made to our members with vessels calling into countries which have been impacted by the virus. Members are asked to consider these recommendations internally and pass such on to their vessels as a matter of some urgency: 1. The Master should ensure that the crew are aware of the risks, how the virus can be spread and how to reduce the risk.2. The ISPS requirements on ensuring that unauthorised personnel do not board the vessel should be strictly enforced throughout the duration of the vessel being in port.3. The Master should give careful consideration to granting any shore leave whilst in impacted ports.4. The shipowner/operator should avoid making crew changes in the ports of an affected country.5. After departure the crew should be aware of the symptoms and report any occurring symptoms immediately to the person in charge of ...

Blue whales, the world's largest animals, frequent waters off California that overlap with some of the United States' busiest shipping lanes, according to a new study that suggests ship strikes are contributing to the whales' stagnating population numbers. Blue whales spend their summers in the shallow waters of marine sanctuaries surrounding the Farallon Islands and Channel Islands, offshore of San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. Scientists tagged blue whales and monitored their movements via satellite between 1993 and 2008, delineating core areas of use. Commercial shipping lanes intersect with these whale hot spots, sometimes resulting in fatal ship strikes. Ships struck and killed three blue whales in southern California alone in 2007, says study co-author Ladd Irvine, a marine mammal ecologist with Oregon State University in Newport. Two others were found dead in the same area, but the cause of death was inconclusive. This may not seem significant, but in a population of 2,500, five dead blue whales were enough for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to declare the deaths "unusual mortality events." Irvine and colleagues hope the new satellite tracking data-funded in part by a National Geographic grant-can help modify existing shipping lanes to minimize run-ins between ships ...

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is encouraging the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control to ensure that a harmonised approach to PSC inspections has been developed in advance of the 1 January 2015 deadline with respect to the implementation of the 0.1% Sulphur Emission Control Areas (ECAs), established in accordance with MARPOL Annex VI. ICS has underlined the shipping industry's commitment to full compliance with the IMO sulphur ECA requirements from January 2015. However, ICS is concerned that information collected by its member national ship owners' associations suggests that many governments are not yet prepared to implement the requirements in a uniform manner, in order to ensure the prevention of a potentially serious market distortion. ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe explained: "The shipping industry is investing billions of dollars in order to ensure compliance with this major regulatory change, and the huge costs involved could have a profound impact on the future structure of the entire shipping industry. We therefore think it is vital that governments get the details of any PSC intervention right as we enter a new world in which fuel costs for many ships will increase overnight by 50% or more." He added: "There ...

Clarifying all of the details of ECA implementation with respect to PSC inspection The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is encouraging the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control to ensure that a harmonised approach to PSC inspections has been developed in advance of the 1 January 2015 deadline with respect to the implementation of the 0.1% Sulphur Emission Control Areas (ECAs), established in accordance with MARPOL Annex VI.ICS has underlined the shipping industry's commitment to full compliance with the IMO sulphur ECA requirements from January 2015. However, ICS is concerned that information collected by its member national ship owners' associations suggests that many governments are not yet prepared to implement the requirements in a uniform manner, in order to ensure the prevention of a potentially serious market distortion.ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe explained: "The shipping industry is investing billions of dollars in order to ensure compliance with this major regulatory change, and the huge costs involved could have a profound impact on the future structure of the entire shipping industry. We therefore think it is vital that governments get the details of any PSC intervention right as we enter a new world in which fuel costs for many ...

ICS has submitted comments on behalf of the global shipping industry to a comprehensive competition policy review being conducted by the Australian Governmen

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) - in co-operation with a wide coalition of international shipping organisations - has submitted an important paper to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that proposes a means of overcoming the serious implementation problems associated with the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. The industry paper suggests solutions to these complex problems in the form of a draft MEPC Resolution that could be adopted by IMO Member States before the BWM Convention enters into force. The shipping industry's paper has been submitted to the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) which meets in London in October 2014. The paper was agreed in principle by ICS's member national shipowner associations at their recent AGM in Cyprus where they considered the deep flaws in the Convention (adopted in 2004 when the technology required to comply had not been widely tested or proven commercially) and possible solutions to these issues. ICS members concluded that there is now a greater understanding of these problems amongst IMO Member States which for many seems to be the primary issue impeding ratification. These obstacles include the lack of robustness of the current type-approval process for the very expensive new treatment systems that will ...

Problems re the lack of robustness of the current type-approval process & doubts about PSC The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) - in co-operation with a wide coalition of international shipping organisations - has submitted an important paper to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that proposes a means of overcoming the serious implementation problems associated with the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention.The industry paper suggests solutions to these complex problems in the form of a draft MEPC Resolution that could be adopted by IMO Member States before the BWM Convention enters into force.The shipping industry's paper has been submitted to the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) which meets in London in October 2014.The paper was agreed in principle by ICS's member national shipowner associations at their recent AGM in Cyprus where they considered the deep flaws in the Convention (adopted in 2004 when the technology required to comply had not been widely tested or proven commercially) and possible solutions to these issues.ICS members concluded that there is now a greater understanding of these problems amongst IMO Member States which for many seems to be the primary issue impeding ratification. These obstacles include the lack of robustness of the current ...

New SOLAS Regulation, effective from 1 July 2014, requires ships to develop plans and procedures Guidelines to help shipowners comply with a new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation requiring ship-specific plans and procedures for the recovery of persons from the water, have been launched by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the global trade association for shipowners.Under the new SOLAS Regulation, from 1 July 2014 all ships are required to develop plans and procedures identifying both equipment to be used for recovery purposes and measures to minimise the risk to shipboard personnel involved in recovery operations.ICS Marine Director, John Murray, explained: "This guidance outlines practical steps that shipowners and operators may wish to consider when developing the necessary plans and procedures, including advice that existing on board equipment may be identified as suitable for the recovery of persons from the water. In the majority of cases, the carriage of additional dedicated equipment will probably be unnecessary."The ICS Guidelines, which are intended to be read alongside guidance produced by IMO, include an example plan and procedure setting out how a company might document its strategy for potential recovery operations.Mr Murray remarked: "Although the requirement for ship-specific plans and procedures is new, ...