The local shipping industry will this year celebrate Maritime Awareness Week under the theme 'Climate Change: A Challenge for Jamaica Maritime Too'.

Being celebrated this year from September 20-25, the week's activities will begin with a church service to be held at The Church of St Margaret followed by a three-day exhibition at the Caribbean Maritime Institute and two industry seminars for Kingston and Montego Bay.

Rear Admiral Peter Brady, director general of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), noted that the theme for Maritime Awareness Week is a welcome one as it lends the opportunity for the industry to highlight the challenges and solutions that have been devised to deal with climate change as part of the Government's 20/30 vision.

"A major milestone has been the ratification of the IMO's Marine Pollution Convention (MARPOL, 1973) and the MAJ has been attending the Marine Environment and Protection Committee meetings as one of the voices for small developing states," Brady pointed out. "The marine pollution bill incorporates the provisions of MARPOL and is in the final stages of development and we anticipate its passage into law in the near future."

World Maritime Day

Jamaica's Maritime Awareness Week was developed around the World Maritime Day that is celebrated annually by the international shipping community and falls on the last Thursday in September.

World Maritime Day is celebrated under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a United Nations body which has oversight for international maritime affairs. The IMO, of which Jamaica is a member, sets the general theme of World Maritime Day and member states may modify it to suit their local situation. The IMO's theme this year is 'Climate Change: A Challenge for the IMO Too'.

Secretary general of the IMO, Efthimios E. Mitropolous in his message, noted that the IMO has established an action-plan and is now working towards the finalisation of a robust regime that will regulate shipping at the global level and contribute to the deceleration of climate change.

Environment Protection

"Much progress has been made by our Marine Environment Protection Committee on the development of an energy efficiency design index for new ships and a Ship Energy Management Plan for all ships (which includes guidance on best practices for fuel-efficient ship operations) and an energy efficiency operational indicator (which helps to determine the fuel efficiency of a ship)," Mitropolous said.

He added that these efforts by the IMO, as well as a progress report on discussions on potential market-based mechanisms, will be conveyed in December at a conference to discuss a new treaty instrument to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The conference will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.