Canada signs new declaration on ship safety

TIN news:  Global leaders of the shipping industry gathered in Vancouver and signed a new declaration, to protect oceans and advance international ship safety.

The Third Joint Ministerial Conference on Port State Control was held on May 2-4th at the Vancouver Convention Centre and brought together Ministers and Heads of Delegation from Canada, as well as from 27 European and 23 Asia-Pacific countries.

The new Ministerial Declaration on Port State Control is a commitment by European and Pacific Rim countries, to continue to eliminate substandard shipping practices that result in loss of life, damage to property and harm to marine environments. It aims to help create new global policies that advance this goal, putting pressure on administrations and owners of substandard ships to comply with international ship safety standards.

This event marks the third time Canada is hosting the Joint Ministerial Conference on Port State Control, which was also held in Vancouver in 1998 and 2004. The declarations signed at previous conferences have helped improve safe shipping and reduce the number of substandard ships operating worldwide.

Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, commented: “The Declarations signed at these conferences have made Port State Control one of the most effective international programs in place to ensure that ships are safe, crews are working in acceptable conditions, and our waters are protected from ship source pollution.”

The Government of Canada has signed two Memoranda of Understanding on Port State Control: the Paris memorandum and the Tokyo memorandum. These agreements set the standard to create the international Port State Control program for inspecting foreign ships.