IMO played a key role in spreading oil spill response expertise at the INTERSPILL 2022 conference, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (21-23 June).
Under the theme: 'Prevent, Prepare, Respond, Restore' thousands of professionals from the international spill response community, private sector, government, and non-governmental organizations came together to discuss challenges and share oil spill preparedness and response expertise and ideas from around the world.
IMO experts covered topics including the floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) SAFER located off the coast of Yemen; the challenges of responding to a spill of Ultra and Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oils (ULSFO & VLSFO); and the 2010 International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea (HNS). IMO facilitated the participation of five delegates from Egypt, Liberia, Montenegro, Senegal and Sri Lanka to attend the conference and undertake short upgrading courses on crisis management/claims and compensation.
IMO co-organized and co-sponsored a diversity, equality and inclusion lunch on Empowering Women in Oil Spill Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Restoration (22 June 2022), which was attended by more than 100 INTERSPILL delegates. In a panel discussion speakers shared their experience and lessons learned, covering the importance of mentorship programmes and networks to help women in the sector access training opportunities.
The panel discussion was followed by breakout sessions covering networking and mentorship, sexism, leadership, work-life balance, and unconscious bias. An outcome of the discussions highlighted the need to create a network for women in oil spills, or to leverage with other existing networks. There was also an intention to include the topic in future oil spill conferences (SPILLCON 2023).
IMO is a regular contributor and sponsor of the triennial oil pollution prevention, preparedness and response Conference Series, composed of the three international conferences for the Americas (IOSC), Europe (INTERSPILL) and Asia (SPILLCON), respectively. The baton was passed to SPILLCON, the next in the triennial conference series, to be held in Australia in 2023 (which IMO co-sponsors through the Integrated Technical Cooperation programme).