Mutual concerns of oil transporters and a coastal state

- a Danish perspective

Andreas Nordseth, Director, Danish Maritime Authority

39.000 km coastline

The Coastal State Denmark

The SoundDistance (Skaw – Bornholm): approx. 255 nautical miles

Maximum draft: 7.7 meters

The Great Belt – Route T:Distance (Skaw – Bornholm): approx. 390 nautical miles

Maximum draft: 15.0 meters

Denmark – gateway to the Baltic Sea

Characteristics

Shallow depth, sharp turns and

strong sea current

The Sound2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Passages 40,046 37,806 37,648 38,902 39,466 35,745Dwt (mio) 268 216 234 237 256 268Average Dwt

6,702 5,718 6,223 6,095 6,474 7,511

The Sound - all passages – all ship types

• Fewer passages but larger ships

• Increase in the size of tankers

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Passages 5,205 5,191 5,423 5,713 5,577 5,421Dwt. (mio) 51 46 59 61 71 79Average Dwt

9,824 8,9 10,848 10,615 12,693 14,541

The Sound – passages – tankers only

The Great Belt

Dead weight tonnage

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Tanker passages

5,166 5,166 5,17 5,509 5,876 6,076

Dwt.* (mio) 149 165 187 210 263 296Average dwt.* a passage

28,904 31,983 36,155 38,147 44,682 48,742

Table 2 – passages of tankers at VTS Great Belt

• Increase in the size of ships

• Increase in size and number of tanker passages

Characteristics

Strong sea current, shallow depth, sharp turns

Increased traffic density, coming traffic and head-on-situations

Effect: Increased risk of groundings and collisions

Groundings in the Great Belt

Period from1 January 1997 to 1 July 2005(8 years and 6 months)

(From ”Groundings and collisions in the Great Belt 1997-2005”)

Facts

Groundings: 46

0123

456

789

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Hatter

Hatter

Resolution MSC.138(76) on recommendation through the entrances to the Baltic Sea

entered into force 1 December 2003

recommends use of pilot:

On ships with draught of 11 m or more

On ships carrying shipment of irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium and high-level radioactive wastes

- when following the established routing system through the entrances to the Baltic Sea (Route T)

None of the ships involved in the 46 groundings had a pilot on board

Off-hire loss USD 1,450,000

Repair expenses USD 1,000,000

Salvage expenses USD 350,000

Environmental protection USD 30,000

Total USD 2,830,000

Estimated costs of a grounding

that took place in 2004

Cost of pilot

appr.: USD 7,500

Not taking a pilot in accordance with Resolution MSC.138(76) on recommendation on navigation through the entrances to the Baltic Sea is:

• a repellent exploitation of a legal regime established long before any one could imagine the type and size of cargo ships we see today

• detrimental to our common goals on safety and protection of the environment

• and very bad business

To put it in short…

Initiatives

DMA produced an information paper showing that the grounded ship could have taken pilot more than 375 times for the amount spent on the grounding

The information paper was sent to relevant partners of the shipping industry strongly advising large ships

always to take pilot on their way in and out of the Baltic Sea

The paper was submitted to the 24th session of the IMO Assembly (NOV 2005)

Initiatives

DEC 2005INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO and the Danish authorities decided to establish the Joint Pilotage User Group (JPUG)

MAY 2006The JPUG established with participation of DMA, RDANH, INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO, BIMCO, ICS and OCIMF

The objective of the JPUG is, through open transparent dialogue between pilotage service providers and users, to find ways to enhance the safety of navigation by:

• ensuring optimal pilotage service in general,• encouraging the use of pilots for ships in transit through the entrances to the Baltic Sea.

Statistics [January – July 2006]

• Ships passages increase 3 %• Ships without pilot decrease with  53 %• Tanker passages without pilot decrease by 29 %• Tankers (draught of 11 metres or more) taking pilot 97,9%

0,979 ≈ 1 ?

• High political and public attention on the risk of groundings in the Danish waters

– ”Acts of god” no longer exists – nothing happens “by accident”– There are only incidents/casualties that should have been foreseen and

avoided• There are no – acceptable – excuses• Any grounding will fuel the negative image that the public has of

the shipping industry

– ”It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch”

Thank you for your attention

www.dma.dk

Safety Study:Groundings and Collisions in the Great Belt 1997 – 2005can be downloaded from www.dma.dk