Ensuring Southern Ocean Vessel Safety
Vessels travelling in the Southern Ocean face a unique set of conditions - ice, extreme weather, rough seas - that necessitate extra precautions. ASOC firmly believes that without strict regulation of vessels travelling in the Southern Ocean, both human life and the marine environment will face unacceptably high levels of risk. The recently released report on the sinking of the 2007 sinking of the MS Explorer confirmed the need for these measures. Although all of the passengers and crew were rescued safely, the report makes clear that this was largely due to luck. Passengers were moved back and forth between lifeboats at sea, lifeboats were not adequately stocked, and safety procedures were not followed. Most important, the ship captain, who was inexperienced in Antarctic waters, caused the accident by failing to correctly judge the nature of the ice field in which the ship was traveling. Reports from the Chilean Navy suggest that there was a sustained oil leak from the ship's fuel tanks, but the environmental impact of this spill is not yet known.
As shipping traffic increases in the Southern Ocean, the chance of similar accidents also rises - and these may not occur under circumstances as favorable as the Explorer's. Larger and larger ships also present a significant risk, because they carry larger amounts of fuel and passengers. In the Antarctic, it is always difficult, sometimes impossible, to mount rescue operations or environmental remediation. The bigger the ship, the more difficult these problems would be. Thus, ASOC was pleased by the decision at the XXXII ATCM to limit landings from any ship with over 500 passengers. Limiting the size of ships in this way minimizes the risk to humans and the environment, while additionally limiting the environmental footprint of human activity, since large cruise ships discharge considerable amounts of waste.
ASOC has several priorities for shipping regulations:
-Convince IMO and the Antarctic Treaty Parties to establish appropriate ice-strengthening standards for all ships using the Southern Ocean through a legally binding Polar Code;
-To prevent use of heavy fuel oil through a ban promulgated by the IMO's MEPC;
-To stop discharges of garbage and grey water through tighter regulations and better enforcement
-To establish a regional vessel traffic control system, beginning with the Peninsula area
-To create an integrated liability regime to enhance Annex VI to the Environmental Protocol and ensure that the annexes come promptly into force.
This video of a storm in the Drake Passage gives a sense of the dangerous conditions encountered by vessels in the Southern Ocean.