Maritime Safety, Pollution and Shipping Management Research Papers (original) (raw)

This article discusses the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) theme for 2013, namely, “Sustainable Development: IMO’s Contribution beyond Rio+20.” The theme will serve for the World Maritime Day, coinciding on 26 September 2013. The article highlights some of IMO's more salient achievements in its 55 years of existence in the quest for sustainability. Challenges and limitations in IMO's governance paradigms are also emphasised, pointing to measured expectations.

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- Management, Supply Chain Management, Climate Change, International Business

Το άρθρο αυτό εξετάζει τους λόγους για τους οποίους οι ναυτιλιακές επιχειρήσεις αναπτύσσουν και πιστοποιούν Συστήματα Περιβαλλοντικής Διαχείρισης (ΣΠΔ), καθώς και τα οφέλη που προκύπτουν από αυτά. Η ανάλυση βασίζεται στα αποτελέσματα έρευνας πεδίου που πραγματοποιήθηκε σε Ελληνόκτητες ναυτιλιακές επιχειρήσεις που είχαν πιστοποιηθεί με το πρότυπο ISO 14001. Στο άρθρο εξετάζονται η σχεδίαση, η υλοποίηση και η πιστοποίηση των Συστημάτων Περιβαλλοντικής Διοίκησης (ΣΠΔ) των επιχειρήσεων, τα κίνητρα για την ανάπτυξη των ΣΠΔ και οι αντιλήψεις τους αναφορικά με την επίδραση που αυτά έχουν στη λειτουργία τους. Στην επόμενη ενότητα γίνεται η βιβλιογραφική επισκόπηση του θέματος και πτυχών του που συνδέονται με το πρότυπο ISO 14001. Στο τρίτο μέρος του άρθρου παρουσιάζεται η μεθοδολογία της έρευνας, ενώ στο τέταρτο μέρος παρουσιάζονται και σχολιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας. Τέλος, στο πέμπτο μέρος παρουσιάζονται τα συμπεράσματα της ανάλυσης.

Providing guidance from ashore to a vessel underway is quite often necessary in order to avoid unpleasant mishaps at sea, such as a collision or grounding. Immediate clarification of concerning issues and acquiring crystal clear information on demand are by all means extremely helpful tools for any navigating officer. In accordance with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) provisions, the Greek government has established the strategic vision of improving navigation safety by providing reliable Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) and monitoring the various high density traffic areas of the Hellenic Republic. The specific effort -implemented in a step by step approach- should by now have reached its final stage. The analysis that follows will present the current state of Greek VTS operations and evaluate the need for further improvement. The final conclusion is that the Hellenic VTS can provide a helping hand in time of need in a small number of choke-points and covers a rather limited area. The Hellenic approach towards regulating navigation patterns and monitor traffic in various areas of the Hellenic Seas is a promising start. However, future expansion of the system in other busy locations is also needed in the near future.

Many methods and applications for maritime transportation risk analysis have been presented in the literature. In parallel, there is a recent focus on foundational issues in risk analysis, with calls for intensified research on fundamental concepts and principles underlying the scientific field. This paper presents a review and analysis of risk definitions, perspectives and scientific approaches to risk analysis found in the maritime transportation application area, focusing on applications addressing accidental risk of shipping in a sea area. For this purpose, a classification of risk definitions, an overview of elements in risk perspectives and a classification of approaches to risk analysis science are applied. Results reveal that in the application area, risk is strongly tied to probability, both in definitions and perspectives, while alternative views exist. A diffuse situation is also found concerning the scientific approach to risk analysis, with realist, proceduralist and constructivist foundations co-existing. Realist approaches dominate the application area. Very few applications systematically account for uncertainty, neither concerning the evidence base nor in relation to the limitations of the risk model in relation to the space of possible outcomes. Some suggestions are made to improve the current situation, aiming to strengthen the scientific basis for risk analysis.

- by Engr. Khairulmuzammil YUZRI
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- Knowledge sharing, Safety, Maritime, Maritime Safety
- by Nikolaos Astras
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- Shipping/ Transport Logistics, Shipping Management, Shipping, Shipping Finance

During the last few years bulk shipping has experienced the effects of safety and quality awareness. Social responsiveness of shipping companies is on the agenda and new regulations which might enforce this, are imposed. The shipping business environment gradually changes and shipping companies are called upon to adapt to this change in order to remain competitive in the market. However, the efficiency of the adaptation process depends heavily on the companies’ structural characteristics. This paper concentrates on small bulk shipping companies and after having examined the affection that the new shipping environment will have on their competitiveness, argues that the disadvantage created by their current structure could be eliminated, by choosing and implementing the proper strategies. In doing so, shipowners need to analyze and evaluate several internal and external environmental factors of their companies. A methodology that incorporates the analysis and evaluation of these factors and helps shipowners in deciding the proper strategy is proposed.

- by Eleftherios Katarelos and +1
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- Shipping, Maritime, Maritime Safety, Ports

Self-regulation in shipping market, as in every other market cannot be easily achieved by itself and hence regulators/government’s intervention is needed, when it fails. The role of IMO and flag states is to create the framework within which maritime actors will operate smoothly and the Stakeholders Model may lead towards this direction. Its basic principle is that every stakeholder involved in shipping industry must pay its fair share. This is an ethic and theoretically sound approach, but its implementation is not easy because on one hand stakeholders are not clearly defined and on the other hand there doesn’t seem to exist any method quantifying the fair contribution of each one. The present paper introduces a methodology facilitating the implementation of the Stakeholders model. This methodology may be used by both regulators and decision makers. The first use the method to redistribute the full cost of the shipping industry fairly among the various stakeholders involved in it, while the latter use it in order to analyze and evaluate self-regulated markets so as to select and implement proper strategies.

- by Eleftherios Katarelos and +1
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- Shipping, Maritime, Maritime Safety, Ports

"The attempt for the improvement of safety in the shipping industry has primarily been focused on improving technology onboard vessels. At a later stage it was discovered that the advances on technology and related infrastructure did not produce the expected results and efforts concentrated on the human element. The desired compatibility between human factor and technology in an environment where the absence of errors is essential could not be achieved without applying an international framework consisting of regulations and procedures that extend to the ways those parameters interrelate.
In the beginning IMO aimed at improving technology through the enactment of SOLAS and MARPOL conventions, then turned to the human element by implementing the STCW convention and finally proposed necessary procedures through the ISM Code. The enforcement of this policy was not free of errors and omissions, a few of them took time to be properly dealt, another few still haven’t been clarified yet, causing risks to human life and protection of the environment. IMO decided to adopt existing successive models from other industries such as the FSA and HRA. This paper illustrates the omissions stemming from the functioning of the three parameters (technology, human factor, legal instruments) and proposes new methods to be examined by the shipping community.
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- by Eleftherios Katarelos
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- Shipping Management, Shipping, Maritime Security, Maritime

A rapid increase in maritime traffic together with challenging navigation conditions and a vulnerable ecosystem has evoked calls for improving maritime safety in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea. It is suggested that these improvements will be the result of adopting a regionally effective proactive approach to safety policy formulation and management. A proactive approach is grounded on a formal process of identifying, assessing and evaluating accident risks, and adjusting policies or management practices before accidents happen. Currently, maritime safety is globally regulated by internationally agreed prescriptive rules, which are usually revised in reaction to accidents. The proactive Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is applied to risks common to a ship type or to a particular hazard, when deemed necessary, whereas regional FSA applications are rare. An extensive literature review was conducted in order to examine the opportunities for developing a framework for the GoF for handling regional risks at regional level. Best practices were sought from nuclear safety management and fisheries management, and from a particular case related to maritime risk management. A regional approach that sees maritime safety as a holistic system, and manages it by combining a scientific risk assessment with stakeholder input to identify risks and risk control options, and to evaluate risks is proposed. A regional risk governance framework can improve safety by focusing on actual regional risks, designing tailor-made safety measures to control them, enhancing a positive safety culture in the shipping industry, and by increasing trust among all involved.

- by Jouni Lappalainen and +2
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- Safety and Risk Management, Maritime Studies, Maritime Safety, Maritime Safety, Pollution and Shipping Management

The paper deals with the positive law regulating the standards of prevention of pollution by sewage from yachts and pleasure craft and its specific application in the context of the ports of nautical tourism (marinas). The problem of pollution by sewage from yachts and other recreational craft is specific considering the large and increasing number of yachts sailing in Croatian waters, the particular technical characteristics of pleasure craft, the way they are constructed and certified, the manner in which they are used and operated, and the fact that the nautical ports in which the yachts and other pleasure craft are berthed are special purpose ports subject to a specific legal and management regime. Croatia, is a party to MARPOL, the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships. In particular, the standards of prevention of pollution by sewage are governed by MARPOL Annex IV. Whilst MARPOL regulates prevention of pollution standards for the larger vessels, most of the yachts and pleasure craft are outside its scope of application. However, these vessels are subject to the Directive 2013/53/EU on recreational craft and personal watercraft imposing mandatory installation of holding tanks to watercraft fitted with toilets. The relevant MARPOL and EU standards are implemented in the national law through the Croatian Maritime Code, the Maritime Domain and Seaports Act and the respective bye-laws, enforced through the flag and port state jurisdiction of the Republic of Croatia and the system of inspection control and sanctioning of maritime offences. The discharge of sewage into the sea is prohibited within the Croatian territory. The adequate port reception facilities must be fitted in all Croatian ports, including the ports of nautical tourism where it is a responsibility of the concessionary of the port. The authors critically examine whether and how the relevant pollution prevention standards are implemented in the context of yachting and marinas with a view of proposing certain improvements.

- by Adriana Vincenca Padovan and +1
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- Admiralty Law, Maritime Law, Admiralty Law and Practice, Shipping Law

There is a need for developing improved methods of evaluating the safety of cargo ships that would quantify and assess the ship safety more comprehensively than current methods and further allow for a more direct comparison of ship designs safety-wise so that safety could become one of the goals of design process. This newly developed method will not only have to allow for effective determination of ship safety, but also should meet expectations from various industries. This paper presents an alternative approach to safety of ships in damaged conditions, which when further verified and evaluated, could serve as a useful tool for designers and ship operators alike. It was shown that a computationally efficient quasi-dynamic method that addresses the main drawbacks of current regulations can be formulated for evaluating the exact risk levels at any stage of vessel's life.

Ship traffic is the factor that presents in almost all of the existing grounding risk models. It is considered to be one of the main factors affecting the expected frequency of ship groundings.
This is mostly accepted by experts as common sense. However, there is no research available on the actual dependency between ship traffic and grounding accidents. In this paper, we
conduct a study aimed at determining the statistical dependency between the density and distribution of traffic, the number and frequency of grounding accidents and the dependency between the complexity of waterways and an actual accident. For this purpose we utilise statistical analysis of maritime traffic, obtained from Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and grounding accidents, enhanced with the expert elicitation techniques delivering the waterway complexity index. The sea area under investigation is the Gulf of Finland. The results show statistical dependency between frequency of grounding and waterway complexity as well as the traffic distribution. However, the study does not reveal any significant dependency between grounding and traffic density.

- by Jakub Montewka and +1
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- Maritime Human Factors, Maritime Safety, Maritime Safety, Pollution and Shipping Management, Maritime Transportation

Transportation and translocation of non-native species by ships through ballast water is one of the current issues the shipping industry is trying to address. The Ballast Water Convention is nearing full ratification after which treatment of ballast water will become mandatory for most of the trading merchant vessel categories. Ballast water management systems employing various technologies are commercially available but at high costs. Economics apart, the efficiency of these technologies and realistic ways to ensure compliance with stricter requirements of some Administrations are issues that need to be focussed upon. With the report of the Environmental Protection Agency as an assessment reference, this paper reviews the treatment technologies. Juxtaposing reports of Lloyd’s Register on the status, a concise overview of the technologies has been projected. A sustainable ballast water management based on data and assessments is proposed. The management must be extended to both shore and on-board platforms for practices, treatment, sampling, testing, and recycling. An exemplar system harvesting shipboard waste heat is projected as a route for thermal treatment in combination with technologies showing potential for optimized ballast water management

Bangladesh has a rich shipping history. The country is dependent economically as well as socially and politically on the industry. While, the country is slowly regaining global recognition, the industry is no less on challenges. The seafarers face major issues due to the factors such as conditions of the maritime education and training institutes, forged documentation, negative reputation of the country, etc. Further, the seafarers of Bangladesh also lack skills and training when compared to the seafarers of the other developed countries. Moreover, the country lacks technological resources too, which makes it even more difficult for the seafarers to grow in the industry. The article looked at the different sets of improvements that can be made to the shipping industry and make it easy for the seafarers to get proper jobs in the industry. This study explored the challenges and opportunities for the seafarers and the industry though a review of literature.

In this paper, we introduce two probabilistic meta-models evaluating accidental oil spill volume
for two types of tanker: VLCC and Aframax and two types of accident: collision and grounding. The metamodels
utilize two engineering models, one for ship damage estimation due to an accident, another for
evaluation of an oil spill size given the damage extent. Both models are coupled and executed for a large
number of accidental scenarios, thus two extensive datasets are developed, one for collision and one for
grounding accident. Subsequently, the datasets are used to develop two casual, probabilistic meta-models by
applying the Bayesian Networks. The obtained results are compared with the real-life cases, and good
agreement is found.

- by Jakub Montewka and +1
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- Maritime Safety, Pollution and Shipping Management, Oil Tankers, Maritime Risk

In a world of continue business development in all the industries and domains we assist in the last years at a disastrous impact of ours actions that put the economic results in front of the protection and respect of the natural environment. The maritime and offshore industry is focused more in how more profit can obtain, that how to invest in the protections against the pollution of the seas and oceans of the World. Millions maritime transports with a variety cargo bulk transported in tanks or containers, millions of TEUs in one day. I am economist and I have a doctorate in nautical engineering – INCOTERMS 2010. I know well from analysis that the scope of one maritime transport is the economical profit, it's true. But what about the ballast water of every maritime transport, what about her disastrous effects on the waters World? When I was children I was a fighter against the pollution of the seas. I wanted to become a researcher in biology marine and I never abandoned the protection of the seas and of the peoples that working on the sea. We all depend for the source of water. We are made from a big percent of water. Water is life. We must to stop a second to analyse the financial profit and to compare with the catastrophically impacts on the maritime environment. The devastating consequences not hesitate to appear: invasive species, marine life is dying and the whole marine ecosystem is seriously affected. The last statistics show us that the rate of bio-invasions is continuing to increase and new areas are being invaded all the time. Let's put the red code of emergency against the pollution of our lives!

Self-regulation in shipping market, as in every other market, cannot be easily achieved and hence regulators/governments’ intervention is needed, when it fails. The role of IMO and flag states is to create the framework within which maritime actors will operate smoothly and the Stakeholders Model may lead towards this direction. Its basic principle is that every stakeholder involved in shipping industry must pay its fair share of the cost. This is an ethic and theoretically sound approach, but its implementation is not easy because on one hand stakeholders are not clearly defined and on the other hand there doesn’t seem to exist any method quantifying the fair contribution of each one. Another very serious problem of the shipping market is the case of those stakeholders who are unable to pay their share of cost. Third World countries are such an example. For those countries with the majority of their population on or below poverty line, the implementation of safety/quality measures is far beyond their capabilities. The present paper provides guidelines for a fair redistribution of risk and cost among the various actors involved in shipping market, thus leading to its self-regulation.

- by Eleftherios Katarelos
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- Business Ethics, Shipping/ Transport Logistics, Shipping, Maritime

Globally, there is no country with enough resources and equipment to respond to an extremely large oil spill on its own. This is especially true when special equipment that is missing in one country can be found in a neighboring country. The SBOIL project (South Baltic Oil spill response) started in 2016 and will run for three years. It is a continuation of the research project BioBind within which an “environmental friendly” concept was developed to respond efficiently to an oil spill at sea. In November 2018 the SBOIL project arranged an international table top exercise together with project partners from Sweden, Germany and Poland. Local, regional and national stakeholders involved in oil spill preparedness and response from the countries around the South Baltic Sea were welcomed. The exercise focused upon operational aspects of using new and so called “green technology” in oil spill response. Outcomes of the exercise will be documented and used for future improvements in relation to emergency response management.

- by Dimitrios Dalaklis and +1
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- Oil and gas, Maritime Training and Education, Maritime Safety, Maritime Safety, Pollution and Shipping Management

"Η εισαγωγή του Διεθνούς Κώδικα Ασφαλούς Διαχείρισης (International Safety Management - ISM Code) στην βιομηχανία της ναυτιλίας είναι πλέον γεγονός. Όμως πριν καν εφαρμοσθεί σε όλες τις κατηγορίες πλοίων, ο ίδιος ο ΙΜΟ (International Maritime Organization) αναζητά νέες μεθόδους για την βελτίωση της ασφάλειας μέσα ή/και έξω από τα πλαίσια του αναφερόμενου κώδικα. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο, έμμεσα αναγνωρίζει ότι το μοντέλο του κώδικα δεν ήταν τόσο επιτυχημένο όσο αναμενόταν, γεγονός που έρχεται να επιβεβαιώσει εν μέρει και τους επικριτές του, οι οποίοι είχαν από την αρχή επισημάνει τις αδυναμίες του.
Πιο συγκεκριμένα ο ΙΜΟ αναζητεί να εισάγει στην ναυτιλιακή βιομηχανία επιτυχημένες μεθόδους από άλλες βιομηχανίες, όπως η FSA (Formal Safety Assessment) και η HRA (Human Reliability Analysis), οι οποίες έχουν εφαρμοσθεί με επιτυχία στην πυρηνική βιομηχανία. Σ’ αυτό το πλαίσιο αναζήτησης εντάσσεται και η παρούσα εργασία, η οποία προσπαθεί να αναπτύξει ένα πιο ολοκληρωμένο μοντέλο, θέτοντας όλες τις υπόλοιπες μεθόδους κάτω από τη μέθοδο του BPR (Business Process Reengineering). Το μοντέλο αυτό, είναι αφενός γενικότερο και πιο ολοκληρωμένο και αφετέρου περισσότερο ‘επιχειρηματικά προσανατολισμένο’ απ’ ότι η FSA, η οποία δεν λαμβάνει σχεδόν καθόλου υπόψη της τον επιχειρηματικό ανταγωνισμό, αφού είναι μέθοδος που εφαρμόζεται αποκλειστικά σε περιπτώσεις πρόληψης ατυχημάτων σε πυρηνικά κυρίως εργοστάσια, τα οποία ως κρατικά συνήθως δεν αντιμετωπίζουν ανταγωνισμό.
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- by Eleftherios Katarelos
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- Maritime Policy, Shipping Management, Shipping, Maritime