Aiming for Zero Waste Discharge to Sea
Advanced water treatment systems are just the start of the cruise industry’s circular waste processing ambitions.Advanced wastewater treatment systems (AWTS) were revolutionary in their day. Indeed, they still are today, but with 77% of the CLIA fleet (202 ships) already using them, and another 40 specified for vessels on order, even more ambitious waste management is coming.Martin Shutler, Principal Engineer, Product Development, at Wärtsilä Water and Waste, notes that in recent…
From Fire to Emissions, Ferry Debates Heat Up
Firefighting led a stream of topical debate at trade association Interferry’s 40th annual conference in Copenhagen last week – but not before a record 342 delegates came under fire from a leading Green politician claiming that ‘shipping is currently one of the unaddressed areas of air pollution’. Michael Cramer, German chair of the European Parliament’s transport and tourism committee, delivered a stinging opening address demanding that the ferry and shipping sectors become more environmentally sustainable. He said ‘most vessels are like hazardous waste incinerators because they burn heavy fuel oil which should be processed as highly toxic waste but is usually exhaled without sufficient filtering’.
Improving Safety at Sea Draft Report Presented
The Rapporteur of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on Improving Safety at Sea (MARE Committee), Dirk Sterckx, made his draft report on improving safety at sea available this week. It will be presented to the Plenary of the European Parliament on 8 March in Strasbourg, after which the MEPs have until 15 March to propose amendments. The final report is scheduled to be adopted by the European Parliament in plenary on 20 - 22 April 2004. Sterckx was also the Rapporteur who produced the post-Prestige report for the Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism Committee. Both reports are characterised by their balanced view. Sterckx once again emphasises the need for places of refuge…
New EU Transport Committee
Following the European elections of June 2004, the newly elected European Parliament held its first plenary session from 20 to 22 July. During this session, MEPs formally approved the nomination by the European Council of Portugal's Jose Manuel Durao Barrosso as Romano Prodi's successor as European Commission President. The key institutional change on the maritime front is that the former "RETT" Committee of the European Parliament ("Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism) has been split into two separate committees, Transport and Tourism on the one hand, and Regional Policy on the other. This is a positive development for the shipping industry as one can expect members of the new Transport and Tourism Committee to be more specialised and focused on transport issues.
Lamoureux Outlines EC Transport Priorities
The European Parliament's new Transport and Tourism Committee held its first meeting on 28 July 2004, where François Lamoureux, the Director General of the European Commission's DG Transport and Energy (second in command after Commissioner Loyola de Palacio), presented the Commission's long-term objectives. Lamoureux said that essential to improving and progressing security measures for EU transport is to establish who will bear the costs involved - the ship operators or the public authorities. The Commission feels that public authorities should fulfil this role, a standpoint not shared by EU Member States who are disinclined to foot the bill. On the question of improving safety standards, Lamoureux felt that the idea of creating a European coast guard needs further exploration.
