Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR), 2nd session, 19-23 January 2015 (opening address)

THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON POLLUTION PREVENTION AND RESPONSE

(19-23 January 2015)

Good morning, distinguished delegates and observers.  

I am pleased to welcome you all to the second session of the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response which promises to be very busy. Since this is the first meeting of the year, I would like to say happy New Year and I wish you all the best for a productive year of 2015! 

Allow me first to comment briefly on general matters of importance to the work of the Organization before turning to the work of the Sub-Committee at this meeting.

First of all, I would like to mention the accidents experienced recently - grounding; sinking; fire; and collision – which have brought some stark reminders that traditional safety concerns and the protection of the marine environment should remain at the top of our agenda. 

These accidents have reminded us once again how perilous a voyage at sea can be and how human lives can be placed at risk in difficult and challenging circumstances. As we begin the New Year, we must all rededicate ourselves to ensure the safety of all those who live, work and travel on the world’s oceans. I urge the concerned authorities to accelerate the process of the casualty investigation and submit their findings, where the Casualty Investigation Code so requires, to IMO as soon as possible. I think that the coming meeting of MSC in spring should thoroughly discuss the matter of passenger ship safety.

Turning to another issue we are facing, maritime migrants.  I am very concerned about the recent developments, where large commercial merchant ships have been used in the illegal smuggling of migrants. I hope the involvement of commercial ships will not form a new trend. This cannot be a new way of ship disposal. This would touch upon ethics, moral and social responsibility of the maritime industry including maritime authorities. 

The root cause of the problem remains the same - the obvious involvement of people-smugglers. I have been highlighting the urgent need to address this international crime of people-smuggling at the highest level, both within the United Nations and with individual agencies including INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  We will be exploring the possibility of establishing new measures to address this crime at an inter-agency meeting to be convened at IMO headquarters in London, at the beginning of March this year.

I would now like to turn to another topic of concern – and our responsibility to ensure sustainable oceans. The world’s oceans are key to sustaining life on this planet, constituting the most important conduit for world trade, and for connecting people, markets and livelihoods.  In my view a concerted effort is needed to mitigate the threats to the world’s oceans and seas. 

You might recall that at the last MEPC, I had invited Mr. José Maria Figueres, Commissioner of the Global Ocean Commission and one of the co-chairs of its report titled “From Decline to Recovery: A Rescue Package for the Global Ocean” to share the findings of the Commission’s report. Building on this initiative, I have invited UN Oceans – the UN inter-agency mechanism that seeks to enhance the coordination, coherence and effectiveness of competent organizations of the United Nations system and the International Seabed Authority to hold its annual face-to face meeting at IMO HQ in March of this year. The outcome of the meeting will be reported to the sixteenth meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea  (ICP-16) which will take place from 6 to10 April, at UN Headquarters in New York. This will be an opportune time for those UN agencies involved in ocean matters to seek ways to improve the efficiency of effort amongst UN entities in light of the sustainable development goals, which include one on the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development which the United Nations General Assembly has noted already.

Turning to the items of the agenda of your Sub-Committee, on the evaluation of safety and pollution hazards of liquid chemicals and preparation of consequential amendments to the IBC Code, I note the progress made on the revision of chapter 21 of the IBC Code and its provisional application to the products included in chapters 17 and 18 of the Code, and I urge the Sub-Committee to expedite the work in this regard.  I also note the concerns raised on the lack of guidance to better ascertain whether petroleum-based products, currently assessed as MARPOL Annex II products, would be more suitably covered by MARPOL Annex I.  I hope that, with the assistance of the expertise of the ESPH Working Group, the Sub-Committee will be able to make a sound recommendation to the MEPC with regard to the assessment of petroleum-based mixtures and any related guidance that may be needed.  

On the additional guidelines for the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention, I trust you will be pleased to note the successful outcome of MEPC 67 concerning measures to assist in accelerating the entry into force and implementation of the BWM Convention. It is important that the Sub-Committee accelerates its work on further improvement of guidance on ballast water sampling and analysis, as well as on exemptions and exceptions under regulations A-3 and A-4 of the BWM Convention. 

Furthermore, I am pleased to note that progress has been made on the development of the manual entitled "Ballast Water Management – How to do it" and look forward to its finalization at the next session of the Sub-Committee, following the consideration of the first draft at this session. 

Last December, I met Chairman Morooka of ICS, the International Chamber of Shipping. We discussed the position of ICS regarding the Ballast Water Management Convention. I welcomed the change of position of ICS – ICS is now no longer actively discouraging Governments from ratifying the BWM Convention. For those two years, the position of ICS has had a considerable influence over the decision of Governments, thus except for Liberia and the Marshall Islands, no State holding tonnage of more than 2.5% has ratified the Convention. Now, with the MEPC resolution and the change of position of ICS, I really hope States holding big international registries will take swift action to ratify the BWM Convention, and bring the Convention into force. In my view, States with big open registries have an international obligation to ratify international treaty instruments, discussed, negotiated and adopted at this Organization as IMO Conventions.

Turning to the issue of the Ship Recycling Convention and its associated guidelines, I urge Member States that have not yet ratified the Convention in particular those with substantial ship recycling capacities to do so and promote its early entry into force for the benefits of environment and safety. In view of the increasing number of ships that voluntarily carry the Inventory of Hazardous Materials onboard, of the key requirements embedded in the Convention, I urge the Sub-Committee to finalize the revised IHM Guidelines at this session, so that they may be adopted at MEPC 68.

On the review of MARPOL Annex VI, the NOX Technical Code and the associated guidelines, I urge the Sub-Committee to expedite the work given to you by your parent Committee at its last session, including the development of amendments to MARPOL Annex VI and the NOX Technical Code concerning the use of dual fuel engines as a Tier III NOX control strategy, testing of gas-fuelled engines, and information to be included in the bunker delivery note; as well as amendments to the 2009 Guidelines for exhaust gas cleaning systems. I consider this technical work as very important, since it will support the smooth implementation of MARPOL Annex VI and the NOX Technical Code, in view of the adoption of the IGF Code and the steady increase in various types of ship that are being designed to use gas as a fuel, either alone or as part of dual fuel engines. It is evident that gas will become an increasingly strong competitor to traditional bunker fuel in the future.

On the consideration of the impact on the Arctic of emissions of Black Carbon from international shipping, this work again demonstrates the Organization’s commitment to protect the marine environment and, in particular, especially sensitive areas of the oceans like the Arctic; I would urge the Sub-Committee to expedite the work at this session and make a clear recommendation for a single definition of Black Carbon to the MEPC. Timely finalization of this output will allow the Committee to make a sound policy decision on this important matter.

On the implementation of the OPRC Convention and the OPRC-HNS Protocol and relevant Conference resolutions, I note with satisfaction the excellent work done by the correspondence group. I urge the Sub-Committee to finalize the draft Guidelines on international offers of assistance, which are intended to provide guidance to States requesting and receiving emergency assistance during spill incidents. The Guidelines were initiated following the Deepwater Horizon spill incident, which highlighted the advantages of establishing universally agreed procedures for this aspect of a response. It is my hope that these Guidelines, once published, will facilitate the process for requesting and receiving emergency assistance during future incidents and further enhance, not only regional, but global cooperation in times of need.

Those are the issues that I would like to highlight. But before I conclude, I would like to draw your attention to another important issue of Security. Taking into account the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and the tightened security level of this country, I have requested to tighten security measures such as increased levels of patrol and requested the Security team to be more vigilant.

The threat to the UN in this country is still minimum, I should emphasize that. Nevertheless, I would request delegates to be aware of the security level and general security measures established and stay vigilant.

With that, before passing over to you, Mr. Chairman, as usual we will have a reception this evening in the Delegates' Lounge, at which I would like to speak about the theme of this year's World Maritime Day: Maritime Education and Training. You are all invited to join the evening reception at the closure of this afternoon's session.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  

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