IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim has issued a statement addressing the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the shipping industry and the global supply chain.
EUROSHORE welcome these words from the Secretary general of IMO and would like to highlight 3 sentences of particular importance for Port Reception Facilities as well.
Mr. Lim mentioned that the “protection of the marine environment must also remain paramount”. Thanks to the initiative of IMO and the MARPOL convention signed in 1973, port reception facilities have developed over the world to play a major role in the protection of the marine environment and a lot is still to develop in certain regions of the world. EUROSHORE therefore took the opportunity of this strong message from IMO to be in contact with relevant staff and hope to be able to become a more permanent partner in future. This expectation is also based on Mr. Lim’s statement of “initiating a series of meetings and consultations with leaders shipping ports and other key related sectors so that we can all better understand the issues being faced and develop sensible, practical and unified solutions”. EUROSHORE is willing to share experience and expertise on port reception facilities for fighting against pollution of the seas and this must be seen as complementary to those of ports and shipping industry. We all need to join forces! Because “global trade in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner must continue”.
You can listen to the video here