Tag: INTERTANKO

It also concerns the designation of places of refuge for ships in distress At the end of April the European Commission published a report on the implementation of Directive 2002/59/EC. This Directive, which in the meantime has been amended as part of Europe's 3rd Maritime Safety Package, establishes a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system (SafeSeaNet), but it also concerns the designation of places of refuge for ships in distress.The Commission's report reveals a satisfactory implementation of the provisions by the EU Member States. It focuses on the implementation of the vessel traffic monitoring aspects of the Directive. It stresses that the Member States have lived up to expectations as regards the setting up of on-shore AIS stations and the sharing of maritime traffic information through SafeSeaNet.A small exception to this concerns WETREP, the Western European Tanker Reporting System, which is operated by six European coastal states. According to the report, these Member States have expressed doubts on the obligation of exchanging WETREP data through SafeSeaNet. However, the Commission is confident that a practical solution can be found.As regards accidents and incidents at sea and places of refuge the Commission reports that all coastal Member States have legally transposed ...

Concept to minimise the amount of oily bilge water in machinery spaces The Integrated Bilge Water Treatment System (IBTS) concept was promoted by Japan and recognised by the IMOthrough its MEPC.1/Circ 642 as an excellent concept to minimise the amount of oily bilge water generated in machinery spaces and with an integrated means to process the oily bilge water and oil residue (sludge).In principle, the IBTS is a concept of an installation containing a bilge primary tank and proper control of the flow of drain streams, aiming to segregate as much as possible oily streams from the drain streams of clean water, and avoid their admixture.Unfortunately, ships which use oily water separator systems based on the IBTS concept have reported negative experiences with port state control officers who are not convinced that ships can generate significantly low oily water volumes.To avoid this, Japan and the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) have suggested that ships equipped withinstallations based on the IBTS concept are given a Statement of Fact, which is a check list acknowledging that the installation follows the IBTS as described in MEPC .1/Circ. 642.INTERTANKO and other ship owner organisations supported the promotion of IBTS. INTERTANKO recommended that Governments ...

Action on the issue of maritime piracy The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has come out in support of a joint campaign launched by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Intertanko, Intercargo, BIMCO and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) that urges governments to take firm action on the issue of maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia.The campaign, aimed at raising awareness of the human and economic costs of maritime piracy, urges governments around the world to prioritise six key actions:Reducing the effectiveness of easily identifiable motherships;Authorizing naval forces to hold pirates and deliver them for prosecution and punishment;Fully criminalizing all acts of piracy and intent to commit piracy under national laws, in accordance with their mandatory duty to co-operate to suppress piracy under international conventions;Increasing naval assets available in the affected areas;Providing greater protection and support for seafarers; andTracing and criminalizing the organisers and financiers behind the criminal networks.So far in 2011, 13 vessels have been hijacked by suspected Somali pirates, with a total of 243 crewmembers taken hostage.In addition, six crew were kidnapped from a vessel that was hijacked and then left adrift in the Indian Ocean. Of most concern, however, are the seven murders committed by ...

European Advance Cargo Declaration regime in force Shipping companies are from 1 January 2011 obliged to provide the relevant European Customs offices with security data for all goods to be exported from or imported to the European Union (EU). Failure to do so properly can result in penalties.The purpose of this regime is to ensure the security of EU Member States through better monitoring of the movements of goods. The security data will have to be submitted through electronic declarations before the goods are brought into, or out of, the European Union. In addition, a uniform set of EU risk criteria will be applied by European Union Member States when carrying out customs controls on goods entering or leaving the EU.Unfortunately EU Member States all have different specifications / electronic file formats and some states may not have had the required systems in place to receive the advance cargo declaration information in electronic format on 1 January. We understand that several states that were somewhat behind in this regard have now made some progress and that system testing is taking place.The Commission has informed us that it has advised these states not to apply sanctions during the phasing-in period of ...