Oil Spill Risks News

Safety of passenger ships – Costa Concordia accident and Commission review of safety legislation. Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport has asked that the currently ongoing review of EU passenger ship safety legislation take fully into account any lessons to be learnt from the Costa Concordia tragedy. The review will prioritise, in particular, the issues of: design and stability of passenger ships, technological developments in the sector, crew training and safe operation, including emergency evacuation procedures.

The Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment management team selected Nuka Research and Planning Group, LLC Feb. As the facilitator Nuke Research will support the team's ongoing Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment with a key role of assembling and facilitating advisory panel activities. The contract is currently being finalized. Nuka Research is a small business located in Alaska with extensive experience in facilitation and maritime issues in the Aleutian Islands. As the facilitator of the advisory panel…

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is expected to adopt proposed amendments to the MARPOL Annex VI regulations to reduce harmful emissions from ships, when it meets for its 58th session from October 6-10 at IMO Headquarters in . The Committee will also continue its work on developing a mandatory regime to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping. The Committee has a packed agenda, which also includes the consideration of the draft ship recycling convention and issues relating to the implementation of the 2004 Ballast Water Management Convention. The draft revised Annex VI to the MARPOL Convention was agreed at the last MEPC session in April.

The Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force will hold its 2002 annual meeting in Tacoma on July 23. The meeting will last from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel, 1320 Broadway Plaza, and is open to the news media and the public. The task force was formed in 1989 to coordinate oil-spill prevention and response policies that cover some 55,826 miles of coastline, from the Beaufort Sea to the Baja Peninsula, plus the Hawaiian islands. The theme for this year's meeting, Doing It Right: Balancing Regulatory and Non-Regulatory Approaches, will focus on the roles that government regulators and private industry play in reducing the number and severity of oil spills.

(PHA) last Thursday welcomed congressional leaders, the U.S. to further fuel the port's remarkable growth. Jim Edmonds. economy growing," he said. ribbon stretched 150 feet across the channel. guests onboard a paddlewheeler, The Colonel. today," said Tom Kornegay, Executive Director of the Port Authority. (from 400 feet) and deepening the channel to 45 feet (from 40 feet). allow slower barge traffic to navigate the channel. and widening project also helps protect water and air quality. Houston Authority and the U. precedent-setting role in improving water and air quality. Edmonds. government agencies formed in 1990. successful. Members of the BUG include Port of Houston Authority, U.S. General Land Office, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. U.S.

Oil companies and the tanker industry deserve to be hit by Draconian legislation if they do not clean up their act, according to a major shipowner. A series of simple measures would eradicate most of the defects which led to the loss of the Erika, said Lars Carlsson, president of Swedish tanker operator Concordia Maritime. "If we in the shipping industry abstain from introducing...steps which can so easily reduce most of the hazards in sea transportation, we deserve what will undoubtedly hit us: legislation from authorities which may be both unpredictable and inefficient," he said. Heavy fuel oil from the TotalFina-chartered Erika polluted French beaches after the ship broke in two in December. Structural failure was said to be the likely cause of the loss by a preliminary French report.