Industry Leaders Discuss Environmental Issues

March 20-23,  Stamford - One of the east coast's premier gatherings of professionals in shipping met in Stamford, Connecticut.  The Connecticut Maritime Association held its' annual Shipping 2000 Conference and Exhibition where attendees were treated to some candid comments from shipping leaders.  The Chairs of major shipping organizations such as INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO, ITIC, BIMCO and many others were on the agenda at this highly acclaimed industry get together.

Covering environmental viewpoints, CQD Journal watched for important environmental presentations as well as keynote speeches.  The opening plenary session drew great interest due to regulatory concerns stemming from the recent spillage of 14,000 tons of fuel oil from the tanker Erika off the coast of France.  In particular, speakers denounced the trend of regional requirements against international shipping, while emphasizing the strong need of better industry relations with the public.  All agreed, however, that the entire system from class societies, registries, port states, to ship owners and even charterers, is in dire need of strong self-assessment to "weed out the undesirables."

Per Heidenreich, President of Heidenreich Marine Enterprises was the first to comment on industry problems contributing to the Erika disaster.  He suggested the industry should

• Limit the number of classification societies
   
• Have class standards stated by international body and determined by IMO
   
• Change the system to have classification societies paid by flag societies rather then owners and
   
• Reduce or eliminate less desirable registries.

Heidenreich emphasized the shipping industry must act now or else others will act for them.

Westye Hoegh, Chairman of INTERTANKO continued the Erika discussion criticizing the lack of an immediate investigation by proper bodies such as the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS).  He and other speakers stressed the need for increased visibility and accountability among class societies and owners.

Other speakers shared their concerns that major incidents, such as the Erika, prompt nations to declare hasty and non-unilateral regulations.  Frederick Tsao, Chairman of INTERCARGO said, "Owners need to be in a direct dialogue with legislators and regulators."  Hoegh argued that the proliferation of variable local regulations places the international safety system at risk.  He felt it is impossible to operate ships safely without uniform rules.

Ballast Water and U.S. States' Legislation

Numerous attendees at CMA 2000 packed into the afternoon environmental sessions of March 21st.  A number of presentations centered upon maritime legislation, particularly ballast water legislation.

Hot on the discussion list was the recent Supreme Court decision regarding local ballast water legislation in the State of Washington.  Dennis Bryant, partner in Haight Gardner Holland & Knight, clarified some of the confusion in the legal drama.

Bryant explained the Supreme Court held the State's regulations to be an operational statute trying to pass off as an environmental regulation.  For this and other reasons, the Supreme Court struck down Washington State's ballast water rule.

But the real question pending for many shippers was how this decision will affect other states' ballast water rules.  Bryant suggested the State of California rules relate to response (rather then operations) and therefore will not be "held" under the same Supreme Court decision. Other regulations in states such as Maine and Rhode  Island, however, are likely to fall.  These regulations may be too similar to Washington State's over-ruled ballast water law.

In other discussions, attendees were concerned with controversial new ballast water legislation from the State of Michigan.  Termed the Sikkema Legislation, these rules go so far as to require vessels to completely "sterilize" their ballast water.  Ships will be prohibited from entering Michigan's Great Lakes waters if they cannot prove their ballast water has been sterilized, regardless of whether or not they will be de-ballasting in Michigan waters.

Although the Sikkema legislation is still pending, representatives from the USCG and others voiced their support against ad-hoc local regulations.  Instead, they favor uniform national and international regulations when dealing with an international enterprise such as shipping.

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USCG Discusses Reward Program

Throughout the CMA 2000 conference, numerous speakers criticized class societies and owners who engage in excessive cost-cutting at the expense of safety and the environment. However, one presenter, Joseph Angelo, Director of Standards at the USCG, put a different spin on the issue.  Instead of complaining about difficult owners, Angelo introduced a new USCG program aimed at rewarding the best owners.

In a refreshingly upbeat talk, Angelo discussed a category of ships he termed "Quality Vessels."  It appears the USCG has been investigating how it can encourage more shippers to adopt vessel management practices that promote a high standard of safety and environmental protection.  The USCG believes it can reward high quality owners through less inspections of their vessels.

Angelo outlined three levels of vessels:  Substandard Vessels that get detained, Compliant Vessels that do not get detained and Quality Vessels.  He explained the Quality Vessel is much more than the ship that makes it through an inspection without getting a detention.

According to Angelo, the USCG is trying to come up with a workable description of the quality owner.  Using detention statistics for the past five years, they have noted:  flag states with a low percentage of detentions, classification societies with low percentages of detentions and quality owners without any detentions over a significant period of time.

Using these numbers, Angelo says the USCG has come up with a "rough cut-off point" to define Quality Vessels.  In 1999, he stated this category made up about 12-20% of vessels inspected. Towards the end of 2000, he hopes the USCG will have data available to put together a program to reward the quality owner.

Angelo believes the best reward that the USCG can grant to quality owners is less inspections.

For additional reports from the environmental roundtable click on: