EU interest in container loss at sea: KIMO (municipalities) & Fishers at important EU workshop

Since 2005, KIMO, Municipalities for Sustainable Seas has campaigned to prevent pollution of our seas regarding the impact of container loss. Since 2001, KIMO works together with fishers to clean the seas in the Fishing for Litter scheme. There is aimed at litter that is present at the seafloor. But sometimes large amounts are added accidently. One of the sources, container transport, done to move large amounts of goods, has to be implemented in such a way that the impacts on the environment are as low as possible.

Last January however, over 350 containers were lost off the Northern Dutch coast #MSCZoe, littering the seafloor and beaches of 5 islands present in the Wadden Sea. The latter being a UNESCO World Heritage Marine Site. The islands' beaches were covered with litter of all kinds and the actions and cost to clean these were immense. The environmental and economic impacts were (and are) extensive. Both coastal municipalities and fishing industry were hit hard. Due to the large amounts of new litter the event produced KIMO's Dutch #FishingforLitter scheme was likely to be jeopardized. This case produced information and insights that can serve well as input for an international discussion on the topic.

On 4 July, The European Commission organised a workshop to discuss the #EnvironmentalImpact of #ContainerTransport, but also the social, legal, technical and financial aspects. A broad range of stakeholders (appr. 50 attendees) from industry, (national) governments, institutes and NGOs attended this event. Next to other organisations, KIMO delivered jointly together with the Association of Wadden Sea Islands (Samenwerkingsverband Waddeneilanden) and VisNed, Dutch Association of Fishers presentations on the recent event in the Netherlands.

The impact of the litter on the islands' beaches was explained by Bert Wassink, Mayor of Terschelling Municipality (picture on the left) while prevention at large was explained by KIMO's honorary member Albert de Hoop, former mayor of Ameland Municipality (photo below, right).

Mike Mannaart of KIMO (photo below, left) explained the impact of the event on the Dutch Fishing for Litter scheme, the municipalities and fishermen.

He stressed the need to be dealt with liability and the financial issues that arose. International action is needed to address this ocean governance issue adequately. The establishment or improvement of international funds could be an option, e.g. including container issues in the European Liability Directive (ELD). Oil spills are being addressed and liability is acknowledged but pollution originating from lost containers is dealt with differently, why?

Barbara Hoelierhoek (photo above, right) of VisNed representing the affected fishermen, explained the impact the recent disaster had on the fishing industry. A number of other stakeholders explained their views as well regarding lashing, impact, liability et cetera. The shared conclusion was: `one lost container is one too many`.

It was good that this event was held with such a broad representation. It was good to see that tThe Commission is very much aware of the issue and we hope that further steps, to improve the industry, will be taken.

Down below are the topics regarding containers KIMO continues to call for:

1) the establishment of a Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Non-Toxic Substances including strict liability on ship owners for pollution from their vessels, compulsory insurance for all vessels and a reserve fund to cover any shortfalls in compensation (KIMO Resolution 1/05)

2) the establishment of the following measures:

- Ensure adequate load planning is implemented and enforced

- Implement a robust system for reporting of lost containers

- Attach automatically activated beacons to all containers to facilitate retrieval

- Review the construction criteria for containers with regard to current stacking heights

- Review specifications and maintenance regimes for the twistlocks that attach containers

- Introduce financial penalties and compensation regimes for the retrieval of lost containers(KIMO Resolution 1/08)