Global trends in ship-sourced marine pollution (2010)

23 May 2014

Global trends in ship-sourced marine pollution (2010)

Dr Henk Renken

Paper presented at: Oil in the Sea Conference, Hamburg, Germany, 17-19 November 2010

A review of the trends over the past 10 years shows that Asia and Europe are the regions where ITOPF attended oil spills most often. China in particular is a hot spot, being the country in which ITOPF has attended oil spills most frequently in the past 10 years. This is likely a reflection of the recent economic growth, resulting in increased import and export activities. Although there has been a significant reduction in large ship-sourced spills, accidents will and do occur. Prevention of spills should have the highest priority, however there clearly remains a need to develop preparedness and in particular contingency plans. Spill response preparedness and regular exercises are indeed the best strategies to maintain readiness to respond efficiently when an incident occurs.

Category: Papers