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Green
Award Reception
I am delighted to be able to welcome you to IMO headquarters this evening and I would like first of all to extend my thanks to the Green Award Foundation, and to the MEPC delegation of the Netherlands Government, who are jointly hosting this reception here today. We are here to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Green Award Foundation; to salute what began as an initiative between the Port of Rotterdam and the Netherlands Ministry of Transport and now, a decade later, had grown into an independent body, operating worldwide and still expanding. As you have heard, we are also here to say goodbye to our good friend and colleague from the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Mr Lex Burgel, who after a long and distinguished career has decided to take a well earned retirement. I have no doubt that Lex will look back on his involvement with the foundation of the Green Award with a great deal of satisfaction. The Green Award scheme is entirely complementary to IMO's own efforts to make shipping safer and more environmentally friendly. And this is particularly important in the current climate, in which the environmental element of our work is growing both in volume and importance. Existing measures are constantly being refined and updated, and new measures developed to address changing challenges. One need look no further than items such as the recent amendments to MARPOL to accelerate the phase-out of single-hull tankers, the revision of MARPOL Annex II that is currently underway, the entry-into-force of MARPOL Annex IV, the impending entry-into-force of Annex VI and the recent introduction of new measures such as the antifouling and ballast water conventions, to see that this is so. But regulations and standards such as these are only worth anything if implementation and compliance can be effectively achieved. While Port State Control might be said to wield the "stick" in this regard, the Green Award scheme is very much the "carrot". It has often been said that we need to create incentives for the good operator, with corresponding disincentives for the bad - easy to say, but not so simple to achieve in practice. But the Green Award scheme manages to do just that, offering reduced port dues and other direct financial incentives, such as reduced pilotage fees, waste reception charges and insurance premiums to ships and shipping companies that meet the criteria laid down and gain the sought after Green Award. The Green Award scheme enables ports to discriminate between customers, establishing a benchmark of quality that can be universally recognized and relied on. And as ports are now crucial parts of the global "just-in-time" transport chain, safety and efficiency have never been more important to their productivity and commercial success. More and more, charterers, brokers and cargo interests are seeking ways to demonstrate their own environmental credentials and are looking to use Green Award ships and reap the benefits they offer. From a limited base, both in terms of the ship types it addressed and its geographical outreach, the Green Award scheme has steadily expanded in scope. Initially a scheme that embraced oil tankers using the Port of Rotterdam, it now extends to product carriers and dry bulk carriers and an increasing number of ports all over the world are participating. I understand moves are currently underway to extend the scheme to chemical tankers, container ships, short sea vessels and inland waterways craft in the near future. I find it particularly encouraging to see that, although the number of applications for Green Award certificates continues to rise, the actual number of certificates awarded does not necessarily follow hand in hand. In 2003, for instance, 24 new certificates were issued to ships but 44 were withdrawn. This is clearly not a scheme that just pays lip service to its aims and principles. It sets high standards, and it sticks to them. Its team of surveyors travel the world to carry out detailed inspections on vessels applying for or wishing to retain this coveted award. Shipping companies find their office procedures and management structures are also put under the microscope, while a board of experts keeps the scheme's own requirements under review to ensure they keep pace with developments in the industry and regulatory worlds and retain their relevance. By rewarding high safety and environmental standards in shipping, the Green Award scheme makes quality ship operation economically attractive. Moreover, at a time when the industry needs to think very carefully about its public image and perception, the Green Award gives us an opportunity to champion those who are prepared to make quality their highest priority. We need to combine our efforts to eradicate the growing tendency to hold shipping responsible every time something goes wrong in the transport system; to pass a "guilty" verdict even without trial, while ignoring or forgetting what we all owe to shipping. To succeed in this, we must be pro-active in taking all necessary measures to prevent accidents happening in the first place and providing quality services in all respects, thereby removing any reason for the general public to think badly of shipping and for politicians to act unjustly or excessively. If we work together, methodically and systematically, we stand a good chance of making politicians and the public aware of the credit shipping rightly deserves and of alerting them to the importance of the industry to world trade and the role of shipping in our daily lives. Building a deep reservoir of good faith to draw upon so that shipping as a whole can maintain its overall reputation even when a serious incident occurs, should be a crucial element of a well-orchestrated campaign which we should undertake with all despatch. Highlighting the role played by a scheme such as the Green Award can help to show that there are quality ships and there are quality operators; that shipping has a caring face and is fully aware of its environmental responsibilities and is prepared to discharge them properly. The Green Award scheme helps ensure proper implementation of and compliance with IMO measures designed to enhance safety and prevent pollution. We support it, we encourage it, and we congratulate it on ten fruitful years. May the next ten and those that follow be even more successful. Ladies
and gentlemen, thank you. |