In a letter to Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau, ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe points out the shipping industry’s commitment to the goal of zero pollution as well its much improved and now “impressive” environmental record, especially of the tanker sector.
There are now “fewer than two significant oil spills (over 700 tonnes) per year,” Hinchliffe points out, “compared to around 25 such incidents thirty years ago, despite a doubling of the amount of oil transported by sea.” The Exxon Valdez oil spill, which traumatised communities in Alaska and has drawn the ire of environmentalists ever since, occurred 27.5 years ago.
Hinchliffe further emphasises the importance of Canada adhering to its obligations under the United Nations Law of the Sea, “in particular the rights to freedom of navigation and ‘innocent passage’ through a Party’s territorial waters as enshrined in Articles 87 and 90.”
He also warns that such a “draconian step” as a moratorium might be emulated elsewhere, “including by individual US states”, and suggests instead that the Government considers alternative methods of risk management such as the establishment of marine transport corridors off the coast, as suggested by the Canadian shipping industry and in particular the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia.
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