"It's months since we started calling for effective measures against the increase in marine pollution as a result of oil tanker accidents. Now the ministers responsible have taken action. As yet no specific measures have come out of the emergency summit of EC transport and environment ministers held on 25 January, but we firmly believe that a breakthrough has been achieved as regards improved safety and environmental protection in shipping", Mr Bangemann told the Conseil Supérieur de la Marine Marchande in Paris on 28 January. Fierce competition in international shipping had caused a continuing fall in the level of investment in modern vessels. "Even so, the disproportionately large number of aging ships in the world fleet is not the only reason for the recent spate of tanker accidents", Mr Bangemann went on. "Another major factor is often sloppy inspections, which have resulted in inadequate maintenance of vessels and a failure to carry out essential repairs." He thinks it crucial that the same regulations should apply to all shipping nations all over the world and, even more to the point, are enforced in practice. The Community therefore had to call for a tightening up of existing safety standards on an international scale via the IMO (International Maritime Organization). "If necessary, the Community must go it alone and come up with tougher regulations to cover its territory." Mr Bangemann did not want the public to get the idea that the Community got moving only after an incident had taken place. The Community had to keep forging ahead on its own account. Nearly all Member States now realized that. Mr Bangemann once again pointed out that the European shipping and shipbuilding industry was open to proposals leading to improvements in safety. In the final report of the Maritime Forum in Genoa there was agreement that it was essential that measures be taken to improve vessel construction and operational safety. A key element in this were frequent and reliable controls of vessels and crews. "If crews are untrained and have no common language between them, sooner or later accidents will happen", complained Mr Bangemann, referring to the low qualifications of many crews. He therefore announced his intention of making all these questions a central issue at the next high-level meeting of the Maritime Forum, and was confident that the shipping industry would make its own contribution towards implementing the proposals made by the Commission and the emergency summit. * * *
