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Polar Code ‘lacks ambition’

January 9, 2014

The International Maritime Organisation earlier this month reached preliminary agreement on a ‘Polar Code’ of safety and environmental rules for ships in the Arctic and Antarctic. But the final draft contains few meaningful environmental provisions, such as requiring vessels to have strengthened hulls or even operate at reduced speed in supposedly ‘ice-free’ waters.

Black carbon emissions – widely recognised as the second most important agent of climate change after CO2 – and ballast water discharges have also not been addressed. T&E’s Bill Hemmings said: “A Polar Code which fails to address the major environmental dangers of increased shipping opens the door to potentially catastrophic consequences should a disaster happen.”

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