Pollution Prevention

Introduction

It is a confirmed fact that the maritime industry accumulates millions of tons of garbage from day-to-day activities throughout the years causing tremendous marine pollution.

The shipping industry, which is responsible for the marine and cargo transportation, is one of the main sources of pollution at sea. Due to the rapid industrial growth the marine ecological system is bound to get perturbed by undesirable issues such as marine waste and the consequences of marine pollution.

The MARPOL Convention (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), which was adopted at IMO in 1973 addresses pollution from vessels by oil; by noxious liquid substances carried in bulk; harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form; sewage, garbage; and the prevention of air pollution from ships. MARPOL has notably contributed to a substantial decrease in pollution from international shipping and covers 99% of the world’s merchant tonnage¹.

Other agreements focus on anti-fouling systems used on ships, the transfer of invasive aquatic species by ships’ ballast water and the environmentally sound recycling of ships¹. The decline of pollution generated by ships has been accomplished by addressing technical, operational and human factors and is all the more noticeable when compared with the powerful growth in the world’s shipping industry – both in the amount of ships at sea and the distances they travels.

[1] IMO. Pollution Prevention (Retrieved January 26, 2021)