The Interspill conference will open with a plenary session featuring keynote
speeches from industry leaders. IMO will join Interspill at this session to
reinforce the message of the importance of Working Together, at a global,
regional and local level.
Marine Transport
The segment on Marine transport will review the impact of double hull tankers,
as single hulls are phased out, and the risks arising from new tanker traffic
patterns in Northern Europe. The importance of the entry into force of the HNS
Protocol 2000, and the challenge of compliance with this instrument in
preventing and responding to chemical spills will be considered together with
the value of the OPRC 90 Convention, in the context of training needs,
contingency planning and international cooperation. Technology in spill
response will be reviewed through a series of case studies, as will the
environmental impact and recovery of major spills, recognising that it will
have been 10 years since the Erika incident, which led to the formation of
EMSA.
Exploration & Production
The segment on Exploration and Production will cover inter governmental policy
for establishing cooperation amongst regional response organisations,
particularly in expanding areas such as the Arctic, Baltic, Black Sea and
Mediterranean. Risks from ship-to-ship transfer in both inshore and offshore
environments will be reviewed, together with upstream risks in developing areas
such as West Africa and Central Asia. Standards of preparedness for spills from
major pipelines in sensitive political areas will be examined, which together
with the growth in pipelines across Europe and Asia is demonstrating a new
spill risk pattern to the inland environment.
The Environment on Land
The effect of oil pollution on the inland environment, from shorelines to
industrial sites to accidental spills is less visible but more invasive than
marine spills. This area will be reviewed within the context of the
developments in European policy to prevent spills, what happens in practice,
and how to store and dispose of hazardous waste.
