Vice-Chairman of INTERTANKO

Address by Patrick Decavèle

Vice-Chairman of INTERTANKO

at a lunch for diplomats

11th December 2006

Shippingklubben, Oslo

The International Association of Independent Tanker Owners

FOR SAFE TRANSPORT, CLEANERSEAS AND FREE COMPETITION

(SLIDE 1)

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon.

I am Patrick Decavèle (*), Vice Chairman of INTERTANKO, and I am very happy to welcome so many of you here to Shippingklubben. This is the twelfth time that INTERTANKO has hosted such a lunch.

(SLIDE 2)

Our world is a thirsty world – thirsty for oil. We consume some 3.9 billion tons of oil a year. 2.3 billion tons of crude oil and petroleum products are transported in oil tankers every year, covering over 11 trillion tonne-miles of oil tanker trade. And virtually every one of those tonne-miles is a safe tonne-mile. (SLIDE 3)Since the early 1990s, the oil tanker trade has increased by some 40%, and yet over the same period the amount of oil spilled has reduced by over 90%. Today just one tonne of oil is spilled for every one billion tonne-miles performed, compared to 20 tonnes in the early 1990s.(SLIDE 4)By the end of this year 71% of the world’s tanker fleet over 10,000 dwt. will be double-hulled.

But the tanker industry can do better than that. It wants to do better than that. The tanker industry has a good record of continuous improvement. But it is not complacent. (SLIDE 5)The Poseidon Challenge initiative was set in motion last year to encourage collective continuous improvement by every single link in the chain of responsibility. The ultimate aims embraced the Poseidon Challenge are zero fatalities, zero pollution and zero detentions (by Port State Control). This striving for zero has also been embraced by INTERTANKO’s Council, representing its members who make up approximately 80% of the world’s independent tanker owners.

For these goals to be achieved, there are some crucial necessities.(SLIDE 6)

We needInternational standards and international regulation.

WE fully support the International Maritime Organization (IMO) whose global standards are vital to having a genuinely global shipping industry. Shipping is responsible for carrying 90% of world trade – without it the world’s economiesand international trade grind to a halt. To reach maximum efficiency the industry needs uniform global regulation, not a patchwork of local regulation.

(SLIDE 7)

This means working for international regulation that is fit for purpose in that it provides solutions; that has been properly considered by all including the stakeholders involved; whose economic and social impacts have been fully assessed; and which is adopted, and implemented, promptly and uniformly.

One such example isPlaces of refuge for ships in distress.

Time is of the essence when a ship is in distress. (SLIDE 8)Accordingly, it is essential that there exist properly prepared and well-practised plans that allow a ship in distress into a safe haven, to safeguard the environment and/or property - and most importantly human life.

Addressing the provision of places of refuge with governments involves addressing the relevant issues, learning from other people’s experiences, considering realistic scenarios, developing the necessary plans of action, and following up through frequent exercises.

This issueis part of the European Commission’s Third Maritime Safety Package currently under consideration by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. We fully support the EU parliamentary rapporteur’s suggested requirement for EU Member States to designate an independent competent authority, which should have a clear mandate and command structure. This should be able to provide a clear and efficient decision-making procedure, to be able to offer a place of refuge for a ship in distress.

Furthermore, we suggest that a certificate of entry in a recognised P&I Club should be sufficient security for entry to a place of refuge.

Ours is a responsible industry, used to much self regulation.

(SLIDE 9)

The industry works to promote and to develop self regulation. This involves adopting industry best practices, formulating quality initiatives and then setting them in motion. It involves producing industry guidelines that are acceptable to all parties. It involves developing procedures and implementation programmes that achieve the original aims and which are at the same time workable in every day life.

How does this work in practice? (SLIDE 10)

To cite two examples; - firstly the Tripartite Dialogue between ship owners, ship builders (in Asia and Europe) and classification societies, discussing inter alia common structural rules, goal-based standards and information sharing;

and secondly the Inter-Industry Working Group which is looking into chemical tanker accidents.

The responsible industry is also assisting European Commissioner Joe Borg in the consultative process of the development of his Green Paper, which has ambitious aims to revisit the EU’s rather fragmented approach to its “ocean interests” by producing a holistic policy covering transport, ports, fishing, shipbuilding, energy production and tourism.

Now IMPORTANTLY to the Protection of the environment.

Here the shipping industry is routinely proactive – it takes very seriously its responsibilities to protect the environment in which it operates and to minimise its impact.

(SLIDE 11)

Some examples:

Recycling – where we are developing a voluntary policy for ship recycling, to be implemented between now and 2009/2010 when the IMO’s Recycling Convention may be finished and adopted – a period when a large number of single-hulled tankers are likely to be recycled. (More than 95% of a ship’s components are regularly recycled at the completion of a ship’s life).

Anti-fouling - The International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships, was adopted on 5 October 2001. However, to date only 17 out of 166 IMO member states have ratified the Convention.

The international tanker industry has supported the Convention which bans tributyltin (TBT) from marine paints. Plenty of responsible ship owners have been proactively abiding by the Convention’s requirements since the 2003 target date - irrespective of the slow pace of ratification. But the laudable actions of these responsible owners are jeopardised by those who are still trading their ships with TBT paint systems - because the Convention has still not yet received sufficient ratifications and has therefore not been given international effect. Good owners are at a commercial disadvantage. Speed of ratification is of the essence here, as it is with other conventions.

Dirty ballast and slop disposal facilities - Responsible ship operators are committed to keep dirty tank washings segregated on board ship until they can be discharged into slop disposal facilities ashore – facilities which for years port states have undertaken to provide. But they do not all do so, forcing ships to carry around an unwelcome cocktail of residues. Port states need to honour their international treaty obligations to provide adequate facilities.

Air Emissions- The shipping industry has fully recognised the importance of tackling the local and international concerns over exhaust emissions resulting from the burning of the heavy fuel oils traditionally supplied as ships’ bunkers, including the problems associated with their sulphur content. Currently a range of options are under comprehensive review, with trials of modified engines, fuel cleaning and exhaust gas cleaning devices underway and the international oil industry and environmental interest groups also engaged in these discussions.

Human Element.

(SLIDE 12)

Much of what I have talked about today concerns the hardware – the ships, the operating systems. But the best-designed, best-built, best-equipped ship in the world is nothing if it is not operated and manned properly - both ashore and at sea. The vast majority of shipping incidents/accidents involve human error. Continuous improvement and zero goals are an impossibility if the human element is not given enough emphasis. INTERTANKO has therefore placed new focus on the Human Element (in Shipping) to address the root problems it faces – supporting training and compliance programmes and providing berths for cadets on our ships.

Ladies and gentlemen, we the tanker owners, and the rest of the international shipping industry, are working hard to be a responsible industry devoted to continuous improvement. (SLIDE 13)