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Introduction
In 2003 Ireland and other OSPAR countries gave this commitment:
Much recent effort has gone into reinforcing measures aimed
at strong and uniform safeguards for the environment against
the large and increasing movements of cargo, which are so important
to our economies. Action has been taken, and is under way, in
the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the UN Environment
Programme at global level, within the European Union and at
the regional level. We must now match this effort with intensified
implementation and enforcement of these measures. We shall therefore
work together on these different levels, within the framework
of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to ensure that all
the controls that we have agreed, and are developing, are applied
effectively. We shall focus our efforts on the significant risks,
drawing on assessments of the environmental impact and threats
from shipping for the marine ecosystems, including the assessments
of HELCOM and OSPAR.
Paragraph 29, Declaration of the Joint Ministerial Meeting
of the Helsinki and OSPAR Commissions, Bremen, Germany, 26 June
2003
The maritime transport sector is essential to Ireland's small
open economy. The international shipping lanes provide the means
to export and import raw materials and products useful to a modern
society and economy. By volume, 99% of Ireland's external trade
passes through ports, mainly in the Republic, but also in the
North. In 2004 Irish ports handled 47.7 million tonnes of goods
compared with 46.2 million tonnes in 2003, and nearly 4 million
direct passenger movements (CSO 2005).
Table 1. Value of Ireland's
maritime transport sectors 2004
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| Sector |
Irish Market
|
Share of World market
|
| Shipping & transport |
€1,000 million
|
0.29%
|
| Ports |
€150 million
|
0.60%
|
| Cruise industry |
€66 million
|
0.80%
|
| Marine commerce |
€55 million
|
0.55%
|
|
Source: Douglas-Westwood Limited. 2005.
Marine industries global market analysis. Marine Foresight
Series No.1, Marine Institute.
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Of course, not all maritime traffic is between Ireland and elsewhere.
Ireland's location, west of Britain and on Europe's Atlantic periphery,
means that shipping lanes surround us. Under the Law of the Sea,
vessels have the right of free passage through Ireland's exclusive
economic zone (EEZ). Some of these vessels are — by EU and
Irish standards — second-rate "rust buckets", often
sailing under flags of convenience, and crewed by insufficiently
trained and badly paid seafarers. Despite the significant advances
in maritime safety standards reached through the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) over the last three decades, there
remains a significant risk of accidents involving shipping and
the spillage of oil and other hazardous cargoes in the marine
environment around Ireland.
However, the bulk of the pressures on the marine environment
from merchant shipping, passenger vessels and other sea-going
craft arise from routine, everyday processes and events: emissions
of engine exhaust gases to the atmosphere, illegal discharges
at sea of oil and other hazardous substances, transportation and
spread of non-indigenous (alien) species on ships' hulls and in
ballast water discharges, toxic inputs from anti-fouling paint
systems, and litter thrown overboard.
These and other problems from the maritime transport sector,
including port development, need to be considered, regulated and
managed in an integrated way that addresses both the ecological
and social systems the sector interacts with (i.e. an ecosystem-based
approach).
Taking into account the global character of
the shipping industry, most of the environmental challenges have
to be addressed at IMO level, as well as at EU/regional seas level
[1]. Clearly, there is a need to tailor solutions
to take into account the diversity of conditions, problems and
needs of individual marine eco-regions [2].
 |
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Proposed eco-regions around Ireland for
the implementation of the ecosystem approach in European
waters: Celtic Seas (E), Oceanic northeast Atlantic (K),
Faroes (C), North Sea (F), South European Atlantic Shelf
(G).
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Nevertheless, the role of the nation State is
crucial, for example, with regard to inspection and enforcement
of maritime safety and environmental regulations within EEZs (port
State control [3]), preparedness for incidents
involving threat of pollution, and so forth. States — in
particular those with shipbuilding industries, and advanced marine
research and development capabilities such as Ireland — also
have a responsibility to support the development and implementation
of the "Clean Ship" approach for sustainable shipping.
In 2004, the Irish Maritime Development Office
(IMDO) continued its promotion of Ireland as a location for ship
operators. The office succeeded in attracting a number of shipping
companies to place their ships on the Irish ship register. It
also helped encourage a number of banks to develop shipping related
operations. A number of seminars were run by the IMDO in 2004
focusing on EU Commission short sea shipping and Motorways of
the Sea initiatives.
DCMNR 2005
With increasing globalisation of trade, a rising
human population, and economic development, the maritime transport
sector continues to grow worldwide. At EU level, policy is driven
by the Lisbon and Göteborg (Gothenburg) Strategies
for economic, social and environmental renewal. Set within this
strategic framework, the proposed introduction of an all-embracing
EU Maritime Policy already provides the
context in which the EU and its Member States will develop a sustainable
maritime transport sector. The proposals for a European
Marine Strategy on the protection and conservation of the
marine environment, adopted by the European Commission in November
2005, comprise the environmental pillar of the future EU Maritime
Policy. As such, the maritime transport sector will be subject
to integrated, ecosystem-based management and spatial planning,
which should minimise both the environmental impacts and the conflicts
with other sea users [4].
Furthermore, it is EU policy to promote a switch from land transport
to water transport. It is widely held that in those sectors where
it competes directly with other means of transport, shipping remains
the most energy efficient form of transport. "This is one
of the reasons why short sea shipping and motorways of the sea
will be further promoted within an integrated EU transport system"
(European Commission 2006).
By actively promoting the development of short
sea shipping routes and the "motorways of the sea" concept
[5], the European Commission aims to shift significant
volumes of cargo from Europe's increasingly congested roads to
maritime and inland waterways. The aim is to establish a fully
fledged network of motorways of the sea throughout Europe by 2010,
one of which is the "Motorway of the Sea of western Europe"
leading from Portugal and Spain via the Atlantic Arc to the North
Sea and the Irish Sea.
However, claims by shipping and port industry groups that shipping
is more environmentally friendly must be balanced against the
additional potential environmental impacts and higher risk of
accidents that will accompany increased maritime traffic.
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Short sea shipping routes serving Atlantic
area ports, April 2005 (CPMR 2005)
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A great many initiatives to encourage intra-European
maritime transport already exist, especially inside the Atlantic
Area. The European Union has been encouraging this type of transport
since the early nineties; it is less polluting and by handling
the increase in exchanges brought about by the enlargement of
the EU, is able to relieve road congestion problems in the centre
of Europe, thus contributing to the Göteborg strategy for
sustainable development of the EU. In its communications and notably
in its 2001 white paper on transport (European Transport Policy
for 2010: Time to Decide), the European Union hopes to encourage
the concept of sea motorways and in 2004, incorporated them into
the Trans-European Networks (TEN-T).
However, the EU's proposed definition of sea motorways is still
rather vague. Two concepts of sea motorways are taking shape:
the first definition, which for example is shared by the Baltic
Sea countries (a region where many maritime lines already exist),
considers sea motorways as being all short sea shipping routes.
The second definition, shared by the French…sees sea motorways
as a kind of floating infrastructure in which vessels are considered
to be a stretch of free-roaming motorway, and as such implies
considerable State funding.
CPMR 2005
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