Any one accident or incident is one too many – IMO official
Andrew Winbow, Head of policy and planning, office of the secretary-general, International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London was in Dubai recently. Winbow presented a paper on IMO’s role in the region at a conference held in the city. In an exclusive interview to Pipeline Magazine’s Jyotsna Ravishankar, he discusses a wide range of issues from ISPS Code to Criminalisation of Seafarers.
With the increasing traffic of oil and gas tankers in this region, do you think there are sufficient regulations governing the Gulf to facilitate traffic movement without much impact to the marine environment?
Looking at the International Laws, I think they are comprehensive and ships should comply with the regulations. As far as pollution caused by operations in ships is taken into consideration, there should not be any, at least in theory, as the Gulf area is a special area under the marine pollution convention.
For the parts of the Gulf where the traffic is concentrated, there are schemes to keep traffic apart and streamlined. So, quite a few measures are in place to keep pollution levels negligible.
With regard to terminals, I cannot really comment, as it is a national issue.
I think it is fair to say that the major oil companies are very conscious of their responsibilities towards the environment in an enlightened self interest, making sure things go well, so to say.
But, I do agree that any one accident or incident is one too many, as it makes an awful mess. So, of course in that sense, we could all do better.
Saying that, I do think that international requirements are in place helping the world to reduce pollution. Further statistics show that the number of major pollution incidents have only dropped over the years.
Part of the problem is that the ships these days are so big that even one major accident could cause an awful lot of mess. So, the potential for pollution is getting larger and larger despite the fact that there aren’t as many ships in the Gulf, as there were a few decades earlier, primarily because the ships are getting bigger.
Do you think a ship’s safety is closely linked to the preservation of marine environment, or do you think the two have to be dealt with separately?
No, I do not think you can divorce the two issues. We were centuries ago, less concerned about environment than we are today. Safety and environment get quite mixed for security purposes as well
Nowadays, with the ships carrying a lot of nasty cargo, the potential for a major incident that threatens the safety as well as the environment is quite large. A major accident means threat for life on board as well as the marine environment.
We have to take security quite seriously as it is one factor that impacts both these issues.
How important are alcohol and drug test checks for the ship’s crew. Is it true that alcohol or drugs cause the majority ofaccidents?
I would be surprised if that was true. In the past, there was much more time in port, so alcohol and smoking was more endemic. There certainly were not any alcohol monitoring machines, like there are now on ships.
Also these days, people are more concerned of their health. So, there is less of drinking and smoking around.
So what do you attribute ship accidents to?
Most accidents are caused by people just making mistakes. They may have had the training and not enough experience. Most often, it is just a silly little mistake that causes the accident.
There are pressures on seafarers and ship captains and so there may be some slip ups or in some cases could be just sheer incompetence.
Also, I don’t think accidents — pollution or a collision — are caused because the seafarer did not have the right certificate as many argue. In my view, it is just a slip that causes the accidents
Are the International Ship & Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and Automatic Information Systems making ships more vulnerable or safe with regular transmission of information, which allows for easy access of the ship’s location?
If I was a terrorist, I would not do a very good job, by knowing exactly where a ship is. It is easy to find exactly where a ship is, because they don’t really take long routes. I think it is a little bit of a red herring about terrorists knowing where the ships are.
I think the issue really is, historically seafarers have enjoyed a little bit of anonymity, so the sudden need for transparency unsettles them.
I have not heard any convincing arguments against AIS, apart from the shipping companies expressing their dislike for it.
We hear the ISPS Code is under study and that there are some revisions in the pipeline, can you comment on that?
We will only be detailing the issues that were stated very briefly. Major changes in the Code are not until after a few years, as it is quite a large task to actually revise the Code completely. Further, we must have good enough reasons to really change it.
Also the principles are fairly simple…So unless something significant in the terrorist world changes, no major changes are anticipated to the ISPS Code.
What do you think of the recent ‘Criminalisation of Crew’ and what does it mean to recruitments?
It certainly is a worry. But it depends on which part of the world you come from. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, people don’t see ships anymore, despite there being many. Whereas, somewhere in Denmark, they are more aware of shipping — Maersk is the most prominent company in the country. It is getting more and more difficult to recruit people from Europe, as youngsters do not want to go to sea, so adding criminalisation weans them away completely.
So, there are awareness camps in Europe, trying to sell shipping as a high-tech industry to the youngsters. International organisations are involved in presenting a positive image about shipping.
Will the IMO have a role to play in the Dubai Maritime City?
Though IMO is not getting involved in it, personally, I think it is a marvellous idea and a welcome thing. The world moves around only because of the ships, so to concentrate all maritime activities is a good idea. It is great thing to Dubai and provides very good opportunity.
In which parts of the world do you think shipping is going to take off in future?
Well, London is still the maritime centre. Singapore, Far East, Cyprus and Middle East are some prospective maritime hubs for the future.
A survey by Maritime London, on where the competition is coming from pointed to Singapore, Middle East and China in the long term
Any regional offices of IMO planned for the future?
We have one in the Philippines and we plan to have one in India soon. It is for primarily technical assistance programmes
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