Former IMO chief hits out at punishment of crews for pollution

TERRY HUTSON THE RETIRED secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Bill O’Neil, spoke out in Durban recently against an increasing trend of initiating criminal proceedings against the crew of ships when mishaps result in pollution. O’Neil is now the president of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS) and one of the most highly respected administrators in world shipping. He was in Durban during March attending an international executive meeting of the ICS. “The trend to take criminal action following a mishap is done ostensibly to have a greater deterrent effect and lead to a reduction in this type of casualty. And there can be no doubt that anyone who deliberately commits an act of pollution should be appropriately punished. However, IMO conventions were not developed with the aim of requiring criminal sanctions for non-compliance, and any move to criminalise polluters would be a major departure from the philosophy employed in their formulation.” O’Neil referred to the detention of the master of the tanker Prestige by Spanish authorities and the arrest by Pakistan of the captain and six crew of another tanker, Tasman Spirit, and later the salvage master who attended after the ship had broken up. O’Neil pointed out that on the downside of criminalising such actions is the potential impact of discouraging young people from becoming seafarers, as well as the concern of existing masters and crews faced with incarceration even though they have taken all possible steps to mitigate pollution. “There is of course also the hesitancy of salvors to become involved and to take risks which in retrospect can be hard to defend if something goes wrong.”