The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) has revealed that European ship owners will participate in a roundtable discussion on the impact of increasing traffic on the Northern Sea and Arctic Ocean shipping routes following a video documentary presented to the European Parliament entitled “Sea Blind – The Price of Shipping our Stuff”.
According to the ECSA, the Polar Code, which will enter into force in January 2017, will be sufficient to protect the environment. Discharging oil, sewage, chemicals, non-harmful cargo residues, and plastics and food waste into the sea will be prohibited, while avoiding the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) will be encouraged. According to the Polar Code, ship owners and operators should consider using non-toxic biodegradable lubricants.
Additionally, as ECSA’s Secretary Genera Patrick Verhoeven revealed, it is unrealistic to expect the Arctic to be immediately accessible following the retreat of sea ice. The Arctic will not be ice free year-round due to ice reformation in the winter, and with the number of challenges ship owners face it is unlikely that there will be a rapid increase. For instance, polar darkness, poor charts, lack of critical infrastructure and navigation control systems and low search and rescue capabilities will create some barriers to Arctic shipping revealed Verhoeven.
He stated that: “We do expect polar shipping to grow in volume in the coming years and are indeed pleased that precautions have been taken to ensure safety of life at sea and the sustainability of these highly sensitive environments is not compromised. The Polar Code of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) entering into force on January 2017 is mandatory and uniform regulation which ensures a level playing field. It will boost the level of confidence in the safety and environmental performance of shipping.”
Ship Efficiency Review News
To contact the reporter responsible for this article, please email editor@fathom-mi.com
