The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has praised the UK Maritime and Coast Guard Agency’s handling of the incident involving the MSC Napoli (beached off the coast of Devon, UK) and the UK government’s approach to the designation of ‘places of refuge’ for use by ships in distress, in conformity with Guidelines agreed by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO).
ICS has also reiterated the support it has consistently given to the designation of an independent authority by governments to co-ordinate the immediate response to such maritime casualties.
ICS Secretary General, Tony Mason explained:
‘Although it is still too early to confirm that a serious pollution disaster has been averted, ICS believes that the damage to the environment would certainly have been far greater if the decisive action of the UK authorities in beaching the ship, and the subsequent action to mitigate the pollution, had not been taken.? It is also important to remember that there has been no loss of seafarers’ lives.’
Tony Mason elaborated:
‘When a ship has suffered an incident, the best way of preventing damage or pollution from the ship’s progressive deterioration is to transfer its cargo and bunkers and to repair the casualty.? Such an operation is best carried out in a place of refuge.?? However, such decisions are made in difficult circumstances and, while mitigating what would be even more serious situations, they may introduce, to say the least, some obvious political sensitivities.?
‘ICS has fully supported the application of the Guidelines adopted by IMO.?? But we have also consistently commended the UK model of a government representative (or SOSREP – ‘Secretary of State’s Representative’) who is independent from political interference so that incidents can be dealt with in the overall best interests of safety, preventing their escalation into even more significant disasters.? In the absence of such a system, those in charge may be reluctant to take the immediate decisions that are necessary in such difficult situations.’??
The European Commission (in its proposed Directive on Vessel Traffic Monitoring) has proposed that the ‘SOSREP’ concept, developed by the UK, should be followed by other EU States.? To date, however, despite industry support, this proposal, which is consistent with the IMO Guidelines, has regrettably not yet been supported by the EU Council of Transport Ministers.