Cleaner, Greener and Safer:
IMO sets shipping's agenda for well into the 21st Century

The meeting of the IMO Assembly, held at IMO's London headquarters from November 15-26, was the last of the 20th century. However, it played an important role in setting the regulatory agenda for shipping for well into the 21st century.

After freight rates, the biggest worry on most shipowners' minds is how to comply with an ever widening web of international regulations that dictate how they can do business. Already, shipowners are having to get used to the idea that they will no longer be able to apply antifoulants containing TBT to ships hulls. Soon, they will have to deal with the fact that ballast water is something that is going to have to be "managed," so that ships no longer transport "unwanted aquatic nuisance organisms" between eco systems.
Both these issues came significant steps nearer becoming international law at last month's Assembly.

For those who have been residing on Mars, IMO, the International Maritime Organization, is the United Nations agency concerned with maritime safety and the prevention of marine pollution from ships. The regulations developed by IMO are enshrined in various international maritime conventions. Countries that have signed on to those conventions enact national legislation that make the convention requirements law aboard ships flying their flags.

Most of IMO's work is done through its committees, particularly the Maritime Safety Committee and the Marine Environmental Protection Committee. However, the committee's recommendations have to be adopted by the IMO Assembly, which normally meets once every two years. Between sessions of the Assembly the IMO Council performs all the functions of the Assembly, except that of making recommendations to Governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.
The Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising IMO's work. Another significant step taken by last month's Assembly was to elect a new Council. The big surprise was that Liberia failed to win reelection. It's widely believed that this is not unconnected to the fact that Liberia is behind in its dues to IMO.

WORK PROGRAM
The work program submitted to the assembly by IMO Secretary-General, William A. O'Neil, identified IMO's main tasks for the next two years as follows:

  • taking measures to more actively implement the proactive policy agreed in the 1990s. The aim apparently is early identification of trends that could affect the safety of ships and those on board, or the environment so that action can be taken to avoid or mitigate dangers. O'Neil is calling for "Formal Safety Assessment" (still a relatively novel concept) to be used to the extent possible in any rule-making process.
  • shifting emphasis onto people;
  • ensuring the effective uniform implementation of existing IMO standards and regulations;
  • developing a safety culture and environmental conscience;
  • avoiding excessive regulation;
  • strengthening IMO's technical co-operation programs; and
  • promoting the intensification by Governments and industry of efforts to deal with terrorism at sea, piracy and armed robbery against ships, illicit drug trafficking, illegal migration by sea and stowaway cases).


There are few surprises in this list and, as ever, the devil will be in the details. The plea to avoid "excessive regulation" seems a forlorn one. Regulations never seem excessive to those who wish to impose them.

TBT BAN
The Assembly also considered a number of draft resolutions submitted for approval by the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine Environment Protection Committee and other IMO subsidiary bodies. Among the most contentious of these was the MEPC draft resolution on phasing out TBT from antifoulings. It contains target dates of Jan 1, 2003 for the ending of application of TBT-containing antifoulings to ships and January 1, 2008 for a complete ban on the presence of TBT in antifouling coatings. The resolution was adopted by the Assembly and the next step will be a diplomatic conference called to create an internationally legally binding instrument to prohibit the use of harmful antifouling systems.

BALLAST WATER
Another contentious issue is ballast water management. While MEPC's Ballast Water Working Group says it has "made significant progress towards a legally binding provision on ballast water management," it is not yet at the stage where it is ready to request a diplomatic conference. Ballast water will, however, remain a high priority of the MEPC. It seems certain that the U.S. will be among those pushing for progress.
This is yet another area where U.S. regulators appear to be pushing ahead of the international tide. The U.S. Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisances Prevention Control Act of 1990 created the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force (ANSTF) and required mandatory exchange of ballast water to protect the Great Lakes. The National Invasive Species Act of 1996 reauthorized that act and extended it by extending ballast water management regulations for the rest of U.S. waters in the form of a regime of voluntary ballast water exchange. In 1993, the U.S. Coast Guard established a mandatory ballast water exchange program to meet the requirements of the 1990 law. In July this year, it implemented voluntary national guidelines to comply with the 1996 law.

The Coast Guard is taking random ballast water samples "to assess the truthfulness [of ships'] reported actions" and it is "exploring promising technologies that offer better long term approaches than ballast water exchange."

However, the Coast Guard concedes that the voluntary nature of its program has come under criticism from a variety of interests. Some environmentalists have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ballast water under the Clean Water Act. And the California legislature has passed its own bill on ballast water management that exceeds federal law and requires implementation of ballast water management practices.

By January 1, 2002, the Coast Guard must submit a report to Congress on the level of vessel compliance with the voluntary guidelines and the effectiveness of those guidelines. Incidentally, ABS recently published a set of advisory notes on "Ballast Water Exchange Procedures" that serves to underline that exchanging ballast water at sea is no light undertaking. One of its general conclusions is that "the complexity of exchange sequences on certain vessels presents safety concerns, as human error and equipment failures could potentially endanger the vessel. Personnel training will be an essential part of a ballast water training program. System reliability may also be a concern, particularly on older ships."

ALSO ON THE IMO AGENDA
Other agenda items and draft resolutions considered by the IMO Assembly in November included items covering:

  • recommendation on training of personnel on mobile offshore units;
  • establishment, updating and retrieval of the information contained in the registration databases for the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS);
  • pilot transfer arrangements;
  • principles of safe manning;
  • unlawful practices associated with certificates of competency and endorsements
  • self-assessment of flag State performance
  • amendments to the Code for the Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents (resolution A.849(20));
  • amendments to the Procedures for port State control (resolution A.787(19))
  • global and uniform implementation of the Harmonized System of Survey and Certification (HSSC);
  • procedure for the adoption of, and amendment to, performance standards and technical specifications;
  • International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual;
  • criteria for the provision of mobile satellite communication systems in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS);
  • implementation of the International Safety Management (ISM) code by 1 July 2002;
  • provision and use of port waste reception facilities;
  • procedures for the identification of particularly sensitive sea areas and the adoption of associated protective measures;
  • amendments to revised specifications for the design, operation and control of crude oil washing systems;
  • guidelines on voyage planning.



That's quite some laundry list! In the century ahead, we at Marine Log (and marinelog.com) will do the best we can to keep you in the picture as items move from debating topic to imminent requirement!

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