Tag: MEPC 71

Jad Mouawad, CEO at Mouawad Consulting, clarifies important issues with respect to the BWM Convention implementation after MEPC71 and highlights that only the D-2 standard has been pushed forward; from 8 September 2017, industry will officially start protecting the marine environment through exchange.

Commenting on IMO MEPC's outcome, Transport & Environment suggested that there is no substantial progress on tackling the global challenge of climate change. Disagreement over how to distribute efforts and the potential costs of measures remain the biggest obstacle to this progress. 

Significant progress has been made on implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention but deferral is not automatic in all cases, says ABS Global Marine Manager Stamatis Fradelos.

The delay of the BWM Convention implementation, decided at MEPC 71, is expected to slow demolition activity over the next few years, subsequently postponing any substantial recovery in tanker rates which have been heavily pressured by the perennial state of tonnage oversupply, according to the Ocean Freight Exchange.

Oscar Wezenbeek, Managing Director Marine Coatings at AkzoNobel International Paints, comments on MEPC71 decisions and suggests ways to move on with the decarbonisation strategy.  He talks about the challenges that the coatings industry face, highlighting the importance of practical solutions for sustainability, ahead of regulation. 

Any suggestion that there may be any form of delay to the 1 January 2020 implementation of the 0.50% sulphur limit in 2020 was ruled out at MEPC 71, as a majority of member states rejected a proposal to collect data to allow the IMO to take stock of the availability situation ahead of 2020, according to IBIA.

ECSA believes that important progress was made last week at the IMO’s MEPC meeting, where there was a general willingness among governments to commit to developing a strategy towards reducing shipping emissions. The European Shipowners said that they are also ready to play their part in this challenge.

At MEPC 71, on 3-7 July, IMO progressed its environmental agenda, by clarifying the ballast water management schedule, progressing GHG and air pollution issues, adopting new NOx emission control areas, designating a further Particularly Sensitive Sea Area and agreeing to work on implementation of the 0.50% global sulphur limit.

The Liberian Maritime Administration has welcomed an agreement reached by the IMO MEPC on an implementation schedule for the Ballast Water Management Convention, as this broadly incorporates the terms of an amendment initially proposed by Liberia.

The Danish Maritime Authority informed that after two weeks' intensive debate in the IMO, steps have been taken towards specific measures to reduce shipping's greenhouse gas emissions, but there are still difficult negotiations ahead, in order to reach the necessary milestones.