The following was excerpted from Mr. Hart's presentation at INTERTANKO's Washington Tanker Event. Ships continue to sink and pollute, and crews continue to lose their lives or be imperiled. This is the 21st century — the shipping industry is one of the oldest in the world so one has to ask how this is possible that in this day and age? Why can't this industry guarantee that ships won't break up and sink? Why have we not learned the lessons of the past? In using the term charterer in my paper for this conference, I am referring to responsible charterers. I can only speak for BP as a responsible charterer, and for companies like BP. There are obviously other companies and organizations that have different criteria for the way they conduct their business…
