В статье рассматриваются аспекты устойчивости морской транспортной системы. В частности, отмечается деятельность IMO по координации в трех основных измерениях устойчивого развития морского транспорта к процветанию: экономического, социального и экологического аспектов, раскрываются цели IMO в сферах повышения культуры безопасности мореплавания и управления рациональным использованием ресурсов окружающей среды, морского образования и учебы моряков, а также берегового персонала, упрощения и автоматизации процедур таможенной очистки и повышения доступности портовых услуг, разрешения энергетических проблем, в том числе внедрения топлива с пониженным содержанием серы и альтернативных видов топлива, например, сжиженного природного газа, налаживания координации и гармонизации всех транспортных процессов и сопутствующих услуг (буксировка, ледовая и лоцманская проводка и т.д.), борьбы с пиратством и др. преступлениями как на море, так и на суше, сотрудничества в технической, технологической и социальной (финансовой, правовой и др.) областях, да и вообще в сфере координации интересов всех заинтересованных в использовании морской среды сторон по оптимизации управления нею.
The theme of this year’s World Maritime Day was sustainability. In preparation for the debate on the day, the IMO prepared a vision of what would be needed to create a truly sustainable maritime transportation system, and the role that the IMO and other industry members should play in implementing that system. This article summarises the most important points from that document.
In order to provide a seamless and reliable service in the most efficient manner, the maritime transportation system must deliver safe, secure, efficient and reliable transport of goods across the world, while minimising pollution, maximising energy efficiency and ensuring resource conservation. To achieve this, the complexity of the interrelation among actors in the maritime transportation system should be recognised and taken into account when addressing specific actions. The key elements of a sustainable maritime transport system are briefly highlighted in the following paragraphs.
A sustainable maritime transportation system requires well-organised administrations that cooperate internationally and promote compliance with global standards, supported by institutions with relevant technical expertise, such as classification societies acting as recognised organisations (ie organisations entrusted by a flag State to carry out mandatory inspections and surveys on its behalf).
In order to operate with the required high efficiency, a sustainable maritime transportation system requires coordinated support from the shore-side entities intrinsic to shipping, such as providers of aids to navigation, océanographie, hydrographie and meteorological services, search and rescue services, incident and emergency responders, port facilities, trade facilitation measures, and cargo-handling and logistics systems.
A qualified and flexible workforce is a prerequisite for a sustainable maritime transportation system. An important challenge facing the shipping industry today is how to attract and retain a sufficient number of adequately trained and qualified seafarers and maritime industry professionals with the right motivation, knowledge and skills for the professional application of evolving technologies and procedures. This challenge will increase as world trade continues to grow and shipping activities increase accordingly. A sustainable maritime transportation system will need the collaboration of shore-side actors, from both industry and governments, (in, for example, the due implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention), for the protection and provision of care for seafarers, in order to ensure that the system’s social integrity does not become eroded and that qualified, professional seafarers have an attractive work environment.
Equally important for a sustainable maritime transportation system to operate smoothly and efficiently are global standards that support level playing fields across the world, supporting global safety and environmental standards, addressing technical and operational requirements for ships as well as the appropriate education and training of crews. Pollution prevention and control, the protection of marine biodiversity and principles of ocean governance should be continuously reflected in discussions at IMO to ensure the inclusive, efficient and effective regulation of ships – from the very first stage of their design through to their ultimate disposal for recycling at the end of their useful life.
Security is essential for a sustainable maritime transportation system, yet it is largely beyond the control of its actors. The shipping sector has found itself at the front line of new security threats emanating from global terrorism and from modem-day piracy on the world’s sea lanes, as well as facing traditional forms of armed robbery against ships in port or at anchor. Ships have no natural self-defence against these threats. Yet their true impact reaches far beyond the vessel’s next port of call or the balance sheet of the shipping company concerned, as a possibly-incalculable economic cost may result from loss of confidence in the maritime transportation system. Therefore, the shipping sector needs external assistance, such as from navy patrols or on-shore action, to meet its security needs. However, it must also take its own preventative measures to address security threats arising at sea or in port, and which endanger both cargo and crew.
A sustainable maritime transportation system also needs the support of a sound financial system to support its evolving requirements for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The financial sector should be properly appraised of the evolving nature of the maritime transportation system, so as to allow for the efficient long-term allocation of resources to advance all three pillars of sustainable development.
Lastly, a sustainable maritime transportation system must actively engage with classification societies, academic institutions and other research and development entities, in order to embrace new technologies and new operational practices that will allow it to continually progress towards achieving higher efficiency, environmental targets and economic advances.
Mowing forward
Focusing on these principal elements of a sustainable maritime transportation system, IMO can use its position as the UN Specialised Agency for global standard-setting for international shipping to look into the future of the maritime transportation system and provide coordination for maritime sustainable development.
IMO’s role as a trusted facilitator for global maritime standards is essential as the maritime transportation system requires norms that are standardised and global in nature, in order to ensure level playing fields across the world.
A sustainable maritime transportation system requires coordination at national and international levels. At the national level, coordination for environmental protection must always take into account the other pillars of sustainable development, namely, social needs, including the health and safety of seafarers, as well as the economy of the shipping industry, and it should be pursued through a national consultation process on issues being discussed at IMO. At the international level, processes of consultation and coordination among Governments and other multilateral, inter-governmental and international bodies should follow from national coordination and consultation with the various stakeholders through the formal discussion process at IMO.
It should be equally evident that, in order to ensure a coordinated sustainable maritime transportation system, policies related to the specific components of the maritime transportation system should be coordinated in the process at IMO. These include policies on the port sector, aids to navigation, oceanographic, hydrographic and meteorological services, fuel supply, the education and training of seafarers, maritime security and anti-piracy actions etc. Relevant actors at the national, regional and international levels will need to consider how measures that have been implemented for a specific sector may affect other sectors of the maritime transportation system and how activities can be coordinated, in order to maintain its sustainability over time, in social and environmental terms as well as from the economic perspective.
It is clear that, for sustainable maritime development to flourish there will be a distinct role for Governments, for industry, for iternational organisations and for all actors in the maritime transportation system, and it is desirable that IMO could act as a coordinator of policies, thus providing an institutional framework for the sustainable development of maritime transportation. All actors will need to collaborate with the aim of achieving the three dimensions of sustainable development across the maritime transportation system – the economic, social and environmental dimensions – but with the safety of shipping always being the overriding priority.
Awareness initiatives such as the Day of the Seafarer and World Maritime Day should continue to strive for wider understanding of the due and the importance of the maritime transportation system to the general public, by highlighting how it delivers so much value to world trade at relatively minimal cost.
Action needed
A sustainable maritime transportation system must cover a broad range of activities, over some of which IMO has traditionally only had marginal influence. In presenting this vision of a sustainable maritime transportation system, the intention is not to broaden the scope of IMO’s activities, but rather to widen awareness of the importance of the system through increased understanding of the coordination opportunities the system provides – at the regional, sub-regional and national levels and at both Government and industry level.
The following are some of the ‘imperatives’ or overall goals that IMO, in partnership with others, must aspire to in order to establish such a system:
GOALS AND ACTIONS
Safety culture and environmental stewardship
Each actor within the maritime transportation system must operate in a responsible manner, adhering to best practices and applying them, from the ship’s design stage, through all phases of operation, to its ultimate disposal for recycling at the end of its useful life.
Goal 1 – A sustainable maritime transportation system must promote a safety culture, fostered through global standards and their rigorous eforcement. These global standards should ensure a ‘level playing field’, but the safety culture should go beyond mere regulatory compliance and deliver added value for the system through the promotion of safety.
Goal 2 – A sustainable maritime transportation system must minimise the environmental impact of shipping and the activities of maritime industries. Environmental stewardship should be reflected in the development and implementation of global standards for pollution prevention and protection of the marine environment.
Education, training and support
The shipping sector will continue to evolve the use of ever-more-sophisticated equipment for enhancing the safety of ships and cargo, route planning and navigation, cargo handling, energy efficiency monitoring, vessel-source pollution control and prevention, and environmental stewardship. Retrofitted or new equipment, together with evolving shipboard procedures throughout a seafarer’s career, will necessitate follow-up training.
The shipping industry will face greater pressure to provide a better and more attractive work environment for seafarers. Failure to do so will make it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain quality seafarers and to attract the calibre of people capable of being trained and who can continually adapt their knowledge base in response to constantly evolving technologies and shipboard procedures.
Goal 1 – A sustainable maritime transportation system requires properly trained and educated seafarers. Such training and education should be based on, inter alia, the STCW Convention, and include refresher training and education upgrades, as necessary. Safety and environmental awareness should be the priorities. There is a need to develop capacity-building activities under IMO’s Integrated Technical Co-operation Programme (ITCP), as well as coordination with ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention, for maritime training and education.
Goal 2 – The quality of life for seafarers at sea is important in order to maintain and develop the maritime transport industry as an attractive career option for talented professionals seeking a varied career involving both ship- and shore-based employment. The retention of qualified professionals is perhaps the greatest challenge for the sector due to recurring issues such as criminalisation of seafarers, denial of shore leave and repatriation rights, and lack of recreational facilities for seafarers to support shipboard work and living conditions on a level comparable with that enjoyed by shore-based professionals. These issues should be considered in collaboration with ILO.
Goal 3 – To underpin the continuous, global development of the maritime transport industry, non-seagoing maritime professionals must also be trained and educated, especially in the developing world. Professionals need training for legal, engineering, ship management and port careers. This can be achieved through maritime education and training and capacity-building at educational institutions, including the World Maritime University (WMU) and International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI).
Ship-port interface
Shipping is continuously exploring ways to further reduce fuel consumption with a view to improving ships’ energy efficiency (and reduce their ‘carbon footprint’). As ships do not operate independently from shore-based entities in the maritime transportation system, efficiency must extend beyond the ships themselves to shore-based entities, such as ports, cargo handling, vessel traffic management and routeing protocols.
Goal 1 – Inherent in a sustainable maritime transportation system should be efficiency beyond the ship, addressing the ship-shore interface through streamlining and standardisation of the documentation for both the delivery and the reception of cargo, improving coordination and promoting the use of electronic systems for clearance of ships, cargoes, crews and passengers.
Goal 2 – A sustainable maritime transportation system needs efficient port facilities to keep the operational efficiency of ships at the highest level (eg hull cleaning and propeller polishing facilities, specialised fuel and power supply services). The logistics infrastructure should allow ships to sail at optimal speeds for their charted trajectories (eg cargo logistics and port planning, just-in-time berthing, weather routeing). All these elements would form part of a ‘holistic’ energy efficiency concept for the whole system. Innovation and best practices for efficient ship operation and ship-to-shore interfacing should be rigorously pursued.
Energy supply
In order to meet stringent emission control measures, innovation and new technology are necessary – on-board treatment facilities and new engine technology, for example. The quality of fuel oil relates directly to emission quality: therefore, proper quality standards for fuel oil should be implemented.
Goal 1 – For a sustainable maritime transportation system, global distribution and availability of marine fuels must be ensured. Port facilities to provide fuel to ships should be arranged, based on a proper assessment of future fuel demand. It is vital for the smooth functioning of the maritime transportation system that qualify fuels are readily available, globally.
Goal 2 – As modern society increasingly demands clean air, so the sustainable maritime transportation system will need to have access to an ample amount of clean energy, such as LNG and low-sulphur fuel oils. Furthermore, the burden and cost for compliance with the stringent emission control standards, such as the sulphur regulations, should be shared by society equitably rather than be pushed onto the users, ie the shipping industry.
Goal 3 – A sustainable maritime transportation system should promote partnerships between the energy supply industry and the shipping sector in order to address the need for bunkering facilities for new fuel types. This goal evidently involves port planning interests, flag administration and national maritime administrations, as well as cargo owners and industries relying on stable transportation services.
Maritime traffic support and advisory systems
In more crowded seas, with greater traffic density and larger ships, shipping routes will need to be supported by better and clearer information systems. E-Navigation is expected to integrate existing and new navigational tools, in particular electronic tools, in an all-embracing system that will contribute to enhanced navigational safety-while simultaneously reducing the burden on the navigator.
Goal – A sustainable maritime transportation system requires cooperation and harmonisation in the development of optimal systems for navigation, including pilotage and ice breaking services, where necessary, the use of intelligent routeing systems and aids for weather routeing, including e-navigation, so as to optimise safety and fuel efficiency, without undermining the Master’s authority and competency in the operation of the vessel. Reliable charts, based on up-to-date hydrographic, oceanographic and environmental data are of paramount importance. Consideration should also be given to further expansion of traffic information systems such as the Marine Electronic Highway concept.
Maritime security
The underlying causes of piracy and armed robbery are complex and often rooted in the political, economic and social conditions of coastal States, giving rise to lawlessness and criminal acts on land, as well as at sea – particularly so in the case of piracy off the coast of Somalia. These threats, as well as other security threats (such as terrorism), will continue to exist. As world trade expands, extending to new sea routes and new ports and leading to more congested shipping traffic in certain regions, new security challenges will present themselves.
Goal – In order for the maritime transportation system to be sustainable, seafarers, ships and shipping lanes must be protected by the communities that rely on them and benefit from sea trade. Protection measures must respond to the threats posed to sea trade and to the ships and the seafarers in its service. Due account must also be taken of the increased cost of providing security which erodes the sustainability of shipping. The ISPS Code is required to be implemented and enforced not only on board all ships, but also in all ports engaged in international maritime transport.
Technical cooperation
Existing aids to navigation will be reviewed and new aids will need to be introduced in emerging trading areas. Maritime capacity-building in developing countries should be actively supported, while all Governments should strive to coordinate their respective maritime policies, in order to ensure sustainability of the maritime transportation system.
Goal 1 – To ensure a sustainable maritime transportation system, new and sustainable funding sources and partnerships for technical cooperation should be developed, to enhance existing programmes of technical assistance and to meet future needs, both for ship- and shore-based functions in critical areas of activity (such as shipbuilding and repair, port facility development and management, and maritime personnel training). Increased coordination of capacity-building activities will be necessary to reduce duplication of efforts, and to ensure that the assistance that is received is not only what is asked for but is also what is needed, and to expand the capacity to ensure a proper and functioning maritime administration as well as maritime activities in, for example, ship management and other related professions. This should involve the development of national maritime policies, focusing on competitiveness in the shipping sector of the country concerned and on the sector’s safety and security, as well as on the broader spectrum of the country’s maritime activities including the sustainable use of sea areas under national jurisdiction.
Goal 2 – Technical cooperation should extend to the development and maintenance of oceanographic, hydrographic and meteorological information and aids to navigation in support of maritime sector development in developing countries and include capacity-building for vessel traffic information and management services, all-weather search and rescue and pollution emergency response.
New technology and innovation
Continuing technological advances call for increased sharing of knowledge, experience and know-how in order to maximise the benefits of innovation and new technology for shipping safety and environmental stewardship and thus for the cost-effectiveness of the sector. Goal – A sustainable maritime transportation system requires a platform for the facilitation of innovation, showcasing new technology and its applications. This will also entail partnerships between Governments, shipbuilders, classification societies, manufacturers, R&D establishments and academic institutions. The maritime transport industry should take advantage of new technology in order to maximise its environmental performance as well as to enhance safety, and be prepared for new cargo types and new trades. Governments should provide incentives to advance new technology and innovation for the maritime transportation system.
Finance, liability and insurance
The financial consequences of shipping accidents can be considerable for shipowners, cargo interests, ships’ crews and passengers, as well as for the environment and those whose well-being or livelihood depends on clean seas. Prompt and adequate compensation for legitimate loss or damage suffered is both necessary to sustain sound businesses and expected by civil society.
Goal 1 – A sustainable maritime transportation system should be supported with available, sound financing for construction of new ships or conversion or modification of existing ships in order to meet requirements for safety and the environment, bearing in mind the cyclical nature of the shipping sector.
Goal 2 – A sustainable maritime transportation system relies on regulations governing liability and compensation in the event of maritime incidents as these provide much needed liability limits and compensation for loss or damage caused to third parties. An international regulatory framework that promotes a harmonised approach to the allocation and enforcement of liabilities and related insurance requirements will help to ensure that costs are kept at reasonable levels, while those suffering loss or damage are assured prompt compensation.
Ocean governance
As the world’s economies develop, and the use of the world’s oceans intensifies, new challenges in the resolution of competing interests need to be overcome, taking into account the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and global standards of other relevant instruments. Coordination between competing interests is required, so that a balance can be achieved and any costs fairlv distributed.
Goal – Actors engaged in different uses of the ocean must engage in outreach and coordination in the interests of ocean protection and good ocean governance. The aim should be harmonisation of initiatives, and there should be a thorough discussion of the effects of envisaged measures and regulations on the maritime transportation system in order to ensure that it is sustainable and can continue to provide its services effectively. #
For more information, including a list of the partners needed to achieve each of the IMO’s goals, see the complete document, available at http://bit.ly/15pBnkl
International Maritime Organization
Источник: Seaways. – 2013. – December. – P. 22 – 25.