Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - How can the safety of passenger ships be improved and how can CO2 emissions in the maritime sector be reduced? These are the two issues that trouble European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Secretary General Koji Sekimizu. The two men met in Brussels on Tuesday 7 May when they reiterated their intention to work together on these two themes.
After the meeting, Siim Kallas said that “reducing shipping casualties by 50% by 2015 is an ambitious goal set by Mr Sekimizu, which I fully support. At the end of the day, this is a joint effort”. The European Commission hopes, moreover, that the next meeting of the IMO committee on environmental protection will define how to develop additional measures to make ships more energy efficient, and also take decisions for authorising the collection and verification of their data relating to emissions and fuel consumption. The Commission is also expected to soon present a regional system that could serve as a basis for work on this subject by the IMO.
Regarding the safety of passenger vessels, the commissioner noted that: “Following the tragic Costa Concordia accident, the cruise industry's voluntary commitments on safety of passenger ships helped develop the IMO regulatory framework. And we have, together with the EU member states, put damage stability firmly on the IMO agenda, based on extensive research work”. He therefore encourages the IMO to move swiftly on this matter. Furthermore, since 2010, the Commission has been engaged in a comprehensive review of passenger ship safety legislation. Finally, Kallas praised the work of Sekimizu in combating piracy, and especially in countering the phenomenon of hostage taking. (MD/transl.jl)