Bibliothèque

Belgian and Dutch shipowners’ associations RBSA and KVNR make a compelling appeal to IMO member states to achieve a net zero target for Green House Gas emissions from international shipping by 2050: a 100% reduction across the entire value chain from well to wake.

Belgian shipowners, represented by the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association (RBSA), applaud the approval by the Government of Bangladesh yesterday to ratify the Hong Kong Convention. This moves the world one step closer to the entry into force of a common global standard to recycle end-of-life ships.

The recent review of the regulations pertaining to pollution prevention in the shipping industry, including the Ship-Source Pollution Directive, the Ship Recycling Regulation, and the Environmental Liability Directive is coming under the scrutiny of the shipping industry within and outside Europe.

Exactly a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. This major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War plunged Europe and the rest of the world into an energy and food crisis. This invasion surprised many who thought that armed conflicts of this degree would nowadays not be possible on European soil. Especially after a global pandemic that had just brought the whole world to its knees by incapacitating the supply chain of goods and raw material.

At the joint event today at the International Maritime Organisation, representatives from Belgium, Namibia and the Belgian shipping sector presented the green hydrogen project. The event was held on the occasion of the 79th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).

SeaTalk visited Wilfried Lemmens, director of the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association (KBRV – Koninklijke Belgische Redersvereniging), just as Putin invaded Ukraine. Because so many Ukrainians work on board Belgian ships, the phone was ringing off the hook. In these dramatic moments, we managed to slip in for an interview.

After months of being trapped at sea due to the pandemic, the current war in Ukraine is holding hundreds of thousands of seafarers hostage from the global merchant fleet. There are indeed many seafarers of both Ukrainian and Russian nationalities working on board ships. Many Ukrainian seafarers yearn to go home whilst the sanctions are making it harder to sign on Russian seafarers.

The EU Ship Recycling Regulation needs “major surgery”, but the current proposals offer little more than a sticking plaster, says Gudrun Janssens Head of Environmental & Technical Affairs, Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association on the latest GMS Podcast.

According to the annual piracy report published recently by the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB), piracy and armed robbery at sea last year has reached an all-time low since 1994. But the threat remains.