Page 7 - 2022 - Q4 - Minerva in Focus

A new campaign for the
itime partners to ensure lessons are learned crew welfare, as today’s alternatives provide
enclosed spaces and also that new legislation removal of single-use good quality, safe, and tasty drinking water.
from the many fatalities that have occurred in
“Whilst solutions exist, we still have work to
InterManager submitted a comment paper to plastic bottles from ships do and will be working with our members to
is workable and effective.
support them in selecting onboard systems
the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) and bottles to best suit their needs. What we
106 meeting, co-sponsored by a number of #environment do know is that our industry’s small steps in
industry partners, in response to China’s phasing out single-use plastic bottles could
proposal to revise IMO Resolution A.1050(27), Today, even if plastics on board ships are have a big impact,” Mackenzie says.
which sets out recommendations for entering sorted, managed, and properly discharged to Every bottle bought by BIMCO will fund the
enclosed spaces aboard ships. InterManager’s shore, the mismanagement of waste on land collection of 11.4 kg (over 1,000 single-use
paper highlighted additional information means it can still reach the ocean. With up to plastic bottles in weight) of Ocean Plastic from
which it believes should be considered and 1.75 billion plastic bottles a year being used the world’s most polluted waterways. Locals
provided high-level information relating to on board ships, BIMCO believes removing collect plastic in some of the worst affected
enclosed space incidents. unnecessary plastics is the industry’s best coastal communities, such as the Philippines,
The ship and crew management trade body option to help remove a source that may end Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, India, and Indonesia,
has been collating statistics on deaths and up reaching the ocean. who then exchange the plastic for money or
accidents in enclosed spaces since 1999 and As a first step, BIMCO has partnered with receive digital credit to swap for tuition, tech
reports that enclosed spaces have claimed Ocean Bottle on co-branded reusable bot- goods, healthcare, and micro-finance. This
the lives of 122 seafarers and 45 shore workers tles, symbolizing the change needed within infrastructure is made possible with help from
during this period. the shipping industry; ships are moving from partners Plastic Bank, Plastics for Change, and
“This is an opportunity for the shipping indus- single-use plastic bottles to sustainable al- rePurpose, who set up collection sites and
try, led by the IMO, to comprehensively assess ternatives such as onboard water supplies or ensure transactions to collectors are secure
the dangers posed by the range of enclosed larger dispensers. through traceable technology.
space and oxygen-depleted areas onboard BIMCO estimates that an onboard system is a The BIMCO/Ocean Bottle branded bottles will
ships and make meaningful recommenda- quarter of the cost of providing water in sin- be distributed among key stakeholders, lead-
tions, which will remove or reduce risk, backed gle-use plastic bottles and can pay for itself ers, and volunteers over the coming months
up by robust procedures that should aim to in just one year. In addition, BIMCO evidence to help address single-use plastics on board
ensure no seafarer or shore worker dies while suggests that refills can save around 2,355 kg and spread the campaign message.
carrying out their jobs,” said InterManager of CO2 emissions per ship per year. Refilling a
Secretary General, Captain Szymanski. bottle from a modern system also supports Source: ΒΙΜCO
In its submission, InterManager and its
co-sponsors recommend that suitably compe-
tent sub-committees consider IMO Resolution
A.1050 (27) on emergency drills for enclosed
spaces and carrying gas detection equipment
on board ships and MSC.1/Circ.1401, dealing
with vessels inerted with nitrogen, plus the
associated risks and hazards. It advises re-ex-
amining previous submissions to address
issues already raised, such as cargo holds gas
monitoring, an appreciation of oxygen-deplet-
ing cargos that are fumigated, and cargos that
emit toxic gas.
It states: “The scope of the revision needs to
be broad and comprehensive in order to take
into account both the human element and
ship design factors that have contributed to
previous enclosed space incidents. This would
undoubtedly mitigate against and hopefully
prevent such incidents from occurring in the
future.”
The submission highlights a need to consider
the design of access as a means of reducing
the number of such incidents, pointing out
the risks posed by areas such as hold access
ladders, specifically the enclosed trunk ladder
(occasionally referred to as the ‘Australian
Ladder’).
Source: InterManager

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