Maritime Safety News Archives - SHIP IP LTD

Every time one of the world’s 80,000 large merchant ships calls at a port, it brings foreign aquatic species on the submerged parts of the ship, also known as fouling. In a country like Australia alone, around 30,000 commercial port calls are carried out every year and if their hulls aren’t fairly clean organisms can move from one continent to another, transferring invasive species between marine environments and potentially harm local aquatic ecosystems. The organisms growing on the hull also increase drag and reduce fuel efficiency of the ship by as much as 35%, leading to higher fuel bills and more CO2 emissions.

To ensure that hull cleaning can be carried out in a safe and environmentally sustainable way in the future, a global standard is essential.

“The new in-water cleaning standard puts great emphasis on capturing what is removed from the ship, thereby ensuring that the marine environment is not negatively affected. We believe that a global standard will create much needed transparency along with economic and environmental benefits for shipowners, ports, port authorities and in-water cleaning companies,” says Aron Sørensen, BIMCO’s Head of Marine Environment.

He emphasises that it is imperative that the cleaning can be done “in-water”, as there is limited availability of dry docks for very large ships, for example carrying iron ore or crude oil. In addition, the cost to deviate to docks in Asia and unload the ship is extremely high and the added trip to drydock adds to GHG emissions, which can be avoided if cleaning is done in-situ.

For shipowners, the lack of a common set of global rules creates economic and administrative headaches. Countries like Australia and New Zealand, as well as regions such as Hawaii and California, have already implemented regulation on biofouling on ships arriving in their waters, or are in the process of doing so, as some of the first. But without a clear, international standard for cleaning, ports will have difficulty identifying which companies clean the ship hulls sufficiently and collect the debris that is washed off the ship to a satisfactory standard. And the same goes for shipowners.

“If you don’t have global standards, the shipowner can’t know if a supplier in one country – the in-water cleaning company – has done a good job. Furthermore, the port authorities lack a common method to evaluate in-water cleaning companies,” Sørensen says.

Lives at risk

There are additional benefits of a global standard:

• It will collect materials removed from the ship and thus reduce the pollution from heavy metals and paint flakes released into the ocean during underwater cleaning
• It will reduce the risk to divers cleaning the hulls
• It will maintain the performance of the anti-fouling systems (ie hull paint)

Multi-year path

BIMCO’s aim is to make a standard that is acknowledged by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN-body that governs global shipping.

Sørensen heads a working group that consists of shipowners, paint manufacturers and hull cleaning companies. The group recently sent the first draft of the cleaning standard to a reference group that includes scientists and government regulators. The next step is practical tests of the standard done with a hull cleaning company and a shipowner, which is scheduled to take place during 2020.

“At the stage we are now, we need to engage with industry experts, governments, scientists and port authorities before we finalize the in-water cleaning standard,” Sørensen says.

An approval standard will address minimum requirements on approving in-water cleaners based on testing verified by accredited laboratories and certificates issued by internationally recognized classification societies. A certificate based on an approval will show that the equipment and the procedures of in-water cleaners of good quality.

The approval standard is still under development and ultimately, BIMCO would ask IMO for adoption of the standard. Such a process would take two to three years.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• There are more than 80,000 large merchant ships in the world
• A country like Australia, has around 30,000 commercial port calls every year
• A ship needs a hull cleaning around every two years – depending on where in the world it trades
• The standard addresses cleaning of the hull as well as niche areas, such as bow thrusters and propeller shafts
• Commercial diving is comparatively dangerous. In the UK, the fatality rate for commercial divers, according to figures published in 2010 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), ranges from 20 to 40 per 100,000. This risk factor is 12.3 to 24.7 times higher than that of the construction sector.

— Ends —

Source: https://www.bimco.org/news/environment-protection/20200526–first-global-standard-for-ship-hull-cleaning-essential-for-marine-ecosystems

The UN Secretary General has been urged by global industrial and shipping leaders to persuade his 193 member states to act urgently to avoid a “humanitarian crisis”, with over 200,000 tired, mentally-stretched seafarers currently stuck working on vessels across the globe and unable to be relieved of their duties.

In a joint letter to António Guterres, the leaders of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), urged the Secretary-General to ensure governments were adopting the 12-step set of protocols issued by the UN’s own maritime regulator, the International Maritime Organization.

The letter explains that “There are now over 200,000 seafarers onboard vessels worldwide who have completed their contractual tour of duty, but have been prevented from returning home. Many of these seafarers will be experiencing adverse effects on their mental health and reduced ability to safely perform their roles in the face of increasing fatigue.”

“Additionally, stringent restrictions imposed by many countries, including denial of shore leave and access to essential medical assistance, is contributing to fatigue and exhaustion. We are concerned about suicide and self-harm amongst this vulnerable population of workers.”

The letter highlights the responsibility of governments to adhere to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in which states have a duty to protect human rights that are ‘built on the fundamental obligation of governments to protect rights-holders, which applies both under normal circumstances and at times of crisis.” 

There has been engagement from some national governments, taking positive steps such as by designating seafarers essential workers. This provides a blueprint for other nations on what steps can be taken to resolve this issue.

As thousands of seafarers face exhaustion at the helm of critical supply routes, the clock is ticking for governments.

The industry had previously agreed with workers’ representatives to two contract extensions beyond the usual regulated period for time onboard due to Covid-19, the leaders say this is “not a sustainable solution”.

“Time is running out. We ask action be taken immediately, ahead of 16 June 2020 – the final agreed deadline to implement crew changes for our seafarers.”

Stephen Cotton, General Secretary, International Transport Workers’ Federation said:

“There are 200,000 seafarers out there right now desperate to get home to their own beds, see their families and hug their kids. They’ve been stuck on these ships, keeping global trade running since this pandemic blew up. Enough is enough – they have earned their ticket home. Now governments must make that happen.”

“It’s time for governments to open their hearts, and open their borders, to the world’s seafarers. The alternative is exhausted crews and the shutting down of global trade. The world can’t afford that.”

Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping said:

“We have addressed the letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres to signal the seriousness of this situation. Seafarers have stepped up to keep countries supplied. We now need governments to recognise this commitment by facilitating crew change for these key workers.

“Since the onset of the crisis, the well-being and safety of our seafarers has been our number one priority. While progress has been made, and limited numbers of crew changes have occurred, there is a pressing need to increase the speed and scale at which national governments adopt the crew change protocols.

Every day that governments fail to adopt these protocols, and fail to enable crew changes, they neglect to recognise the sacrifice made by seafarers on behalf of their populations.”

The full letter to the UN Secretary General can be downloaded here

On Crew Change: As travel restrictions swept across global economies, trade continued thanks to 1.2 million seafarers onboard ships across the world. This commitment to keeping supplies of food, fuel and goods, including vital medical supplies, has enabled governments to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic in their countries. What stopped however, was the ability of nation states to allow crews to safely rotate on and off ships at ports and return home to their countries of origin.

Having identified crew change as the most significant threat facing supply chains at the onset of the crisis the shipping industry converged to produce a set of globally applicable protocols for national governments. Download here

ICS has produced two short films to recognise the 1.6 million workers  who are at sea and maintaining global supply chains. Watch here

Source: https://www.ics-shipping.org/news/press-releases/2020/05/22/un-must-persuade-governments-to-adopt-crew-change-protocols-or-risk-humanitarian-disaster-