Markus
Helavuori
Deputy
Executive Secretary and Professional Secretary
Baltic
Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helsinki Commission – HELCOM)
The maritime industry is the backbone of global trade and although shipping is an effective and environmentally friendly mode of transport, it continues to have negative impacts on the environment. The regulatory reach of an individual country is limited, and due to its international nature, the maritime industry is most effectively regulated globally through the International Maritime Organization (IMO). However, regional organizations like the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) also have an important role to play.
The Baltic Sea Action Plan towards sustainable shipping
The updated Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), adopted at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2021, contains almost 200 actions aimed at achieving good environmental status in the Baltic Sea. Many of these actions, which the governments of all HELCOM Contracting Parties have committed to, are designed to make shipping more sustainable. These include measures to limit harmful discharges of e.g. grey water, sewage, chemicals, waters from exhaust gas cleaning (EGCS), as well as measures to limit underwater noise, marine litter and the spread of non-indigenous species.
Some BSAP actions are to be implemented at the national level by the HELCOM member countries. These include commitments to ensure the availability of onshore power, securing ship financing and innovation funding, enhancing the use of alternative fuels and energy sources and implement economic incentives. The HELCOM Maritime Working Group as well as its Sub-group on Green Technology and Alternative Fuels for Shipping (Green Team) a forum for coordinating these efforts, sharing experiences and overcoming bottlenecks that hinder progress.
Other BSAP actions are to be implemented jointly within the HELCOM framework. Importantly, many of these actions could lead to joint proposals by the HELCOM Contracting Parties to amend and strengthen various IMO regulations in order to further limit the impacts of shipping in the Baltic Sea. This is an opportunity to repeat previous HELCOM successes, where such joint proposals led to the adoption of amendments to the MARPOL Convention and the designation of the Baltic Sea as a special area under IMO MARPOL Annex IV (sewage) and Annex VI (emissions to the air).
National and regional initiatives beyond global
regulation
While the maritime industry is most effectively regulated through the IMO, national and regional measures should not be underestimated. There are a few notable precedents of this worldwide, and in the Baltic Sea a promising example is the national prohibitions, currently under development in some countries for discharges of untreated EGCS waters and other ship wastes.
An earlier example is the “no-special-fee” system adopted by HELCOM already in the late 1990s. The system encourages ships to deliver all waste to port reception facilities instead of illegally discharging it at sea. It later served as a benchmark in the revision of the EU Port Reception Facilities Directive, thereby extending its key principles throughout the EU.
The national discharge prohibitions currently being developed may also facilitate the uptake of such improved standards throughout the Baltic Sea and beyond, thereby reducing the pressures on the marine environment at a more rapid pace than that which can be expected through pursuing such standards solely through the IMO.
Addressing unforeseen risks
Efforts to protect the environment from the pressures caused by maritime activities are, however, incomplete if only regulatory and financial aspects are considered. Even if existing and future regulations are enforced by national authorities and complied with by all ships, unforeseen events can still lead to significant environmental damage. Risk awareness is crucial, and authorities must be prepared to respond to any type of spill. This is more important today than ever due to increasing traffic, larger ships, novel fuel types and products transported, expanding offshore developments, tens of thousands of submerged munitions corroding on the seabed as well as extreme weather events caused by climate change. In addition, the current geopolitical situation in the Baltic Sea region complicates matters. Besides hybrid operations and related threats, the “shadow fleet” consisting of tankers with unclear origin, as well as questionable technical condition, insurance and navigational experience in Baltic Sea conditions is a significant concern which needs to be taken into account to ensure a sufficient capacity for response and cooperation in case of an incident.
Regulatory and technical advancements have
already made the maritime industry significantly more sustainable than it was just
a few decades ago. With continued intergovernmental cooperation, it is destined
to become more so, but commitment from the industry and all levels of society
will be required to meet the objectives set at regional and global levels.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Helsinki Commission or the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention.