Our Chairman T. Koutris was invited by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) to participate as lecturer in the Safemed II Project-Workshop on the Ratification and Implementation of MARPOL Annex VI in Athens 26/27 October 2010.
SAFEMED is a European Union (EU) financed MEDA regional project, implemented by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) in ten Euromed Mediterranean Partners, namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
The project primary objective is to mitigate the existing imbalance in the application of maritime legislation in the region between the Mediterranean Partners that are not members of the EU and those who are members. It intends to do so through promoting a coherent, effective and uniform implementation of the relevant international conventions and rules aimed at better protection of the marine environment in the Mediterranean region by preventing pollution from ships.
This Project is divided into a number of Activities and each Activity is subdivided into a number of Tasks. In particular Task 5.2 of the SAFEMED II Project aims at assisting the SAFEMED beneficiaries in the ratification and implementation of the MARPOL Annex VI.
In this respect a 2day regional workshop was organized between the 26 and 27 October 2010 at the Titania Hotel in Athens, Hellas. This workshop was also organized within the framework of REMPEC’s programme of activities and therefore all the Mediterranean countries, parties to the Barcelona Convention, were invited to this event.
The chairman of MARTECMA, during his presentation highlighted the importance of IMO and Flag states in:
- ensuring a stable shipping business environment and in enforcing the deadlines for the Sulphur cup worldwide
- harmonising the various ECA, CARB and EU ports requirements in terms of emission control.
- Enforcing and amending reg14 and 18 of MARPOL Annex VI to:
- ensure bunker control for compliance to spec prior delivery on board.
- propose the proper regulatory framework for the bunker suppliers to operate.
- include in BDN fuel characteristics that have been identified through IMO and ISO 8217/2010 and harmful for health and safety/pollution hazards.
The workshop was attended by around 40 representatives of the 25 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and seemed to be successful in the intent of persuading the 18 countries that have not ratified Annex VI to ratify it in the future.
More information about this workshop is available at www.rempec.org and www.safemedproject.org
