Revised SA national oil spill contingency plan on a roadshow for public awareness: IMOrg -SAMSA

Gqeberha. 18 October 2023

After a long delay occasioned by the devastating outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic in December 2019 that led to intermittent national shutdowns for over two years, the rollout of a public awareness campaign about South Africa’s national oil spill contingency plan (NOSCP) is finally underway, with the two Indian Ocean commercial ports of Gqeberha, Eastern Cape province being the first to host the rollout.

Conducted by the South Africa Interim Incident Management Organisation (IMorg) the NOSCP roadshow kicked off at the port of Gqurha, in Algoa Bay near Gqeberha (a.k.a Port Elizabeth) on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday.

Attended by more than 80 people on Tuesday, including representatives of key role players such as the Department of Transport (DoT), South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), environmental organisations and related, according to IMorg, the purpose of the roadshows is to inform and enhance public awareness about the revised NOSCP for the 2019-2024 period, and attendant response strategies to oil spills and related incidents at South Africa’s oceans.

The IMOrg, a virtual organisation chaired by the DoT and SAMSA as the co-chair and secretariat, is South Africa’s preparedness forum for joint Government and ndustry response to oil spills within South Africa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of approximately 1.5-million km² across the Atlantic, Southern and Indian Oceans.

Launched in 2017, as a deliverable of the Operation Phakisa Oil and Gas laboratory B1 initiative, for joint Government – industry emergency drills, IMOrg’s membership is drawn broadly from across various sectors of society inclusive of State departments, private sector industries as well as non-governmental institutions.

Capt. Ravi Naicker. SAMSA Centre for Sea Watch & Response and IMOrg senior official

According to Capt. Ravi Naicker of the SAMSA Centre for Sea Watch and Response, and the entity’s main representative in IMorg, the DoT has a legal responsibility of providing and fulfilling South Africa’s statutory obligations towards marine pollution prevention response along the country’s coastline of more than 3 000 kilometres. This in terms of powers provided in the Marine Pollution (Control and Civil Liability) Act 6 of 1981, Marine Pollution (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 2 of 1986 and in the Marine Pollution (Intervention) Act 64 of 1987.

“These Acts impose obligations on ships and installations and further give power in respect of pollution casualties in so far as pollution occurs, or threatens to occur within waters under South African jurisdiction, being waters comprising the internal and territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone, etc.

“The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

“Domestically, the Constitution (Act No. 108 of 1996: Section 24 of the Bill of Rights): provides that everyone has a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being and to have the environment protected for the benefit of the present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures.

“The latter section illustrates clearly that the government has a legal obligation to protect the environment through the development and the implementation of the Plan to fulfil this obligation amongst other statutory legislative measures put in place.

“These rights and obligations are embedded in the supreme law in South Africa, which is the Constitution and affords every citizen access to petition a competent court of law to hear the matter and enforce their rights or perceived violations.

“Furthermore, the 2017 version of the South African Comprehensive Maritime Transport Policy makes provision for the DoT, in co-operation with other Departments and agencies, to maintain a comprehensive Contingency Plan to ensure compliance with the provisions of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation, 1990 (OPRC),” he says.

On what the revised NOSCP now entails and why it is important to enhance public awareness about its provisions, Capt. Naicker says the implementation framework is critical for broad public knowledge and understanding.

The framework, he says, outlines a range of issues including the role and responsibilities of the persons and parties involved in a national response to a marine oil spill in South Africa, relevant information and recommended procedures on appropriate action in the event of an oil spill, arrangements allowing for a rapid and co-operative response to marine oil spills within defined areas, and processes related to the provision of national and international support.

“The NOSCP recognizes that no two incidents are ever the same and therefore the level and intensity of a response varies from incident to incident. The plan is complemented by Government and Industry contingency plans prepared at regional, port and facility levels. Matters of detail are contained in local, site specific, contingency plans,” he says.

A most critical aspect of the NOSCP, according to Capt. Naicker, is the adoption, introduction, and application in South Africa of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) endorsed Incident Management System (IMS) and about which, he says; offers “..a well-structured and inclusively accepted offshore oil spill response management system.’

The IMS scope covers incidents management aspects including the setting up of command structures, planning, operations, logistics and finance arrangement. Broken down into two categories, the IMS consists of three modules – IMS 100, 200 and 300 – involving desktop training of participants, and practical on-the-field real time incident management training in simulated oil spill exercises at sea.

To date, more than 50 people have undertaken the training, conducted variously by international experts including the Global Initiative for West, Central and Southern African (GI-WACAF) Project, International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA).

On why the IMorg’s NOSCP roadshow started in the Algoa Bay ports of Ngqurha and Port Elizabeth, Capt. Naicker says this was based on IMOrg’s recommendations that environmentally highly sensitive ports be prioritised, a stance fully supported by especially environmental groups such as the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

The Algoa Bay’s high risk profile for oil spill contingency plans is based both on the existence and operations of two major commercial ports and a ship-to-ship bunkering operation in the area and alongside which are a diverse wildlife including bird colonies.

For this blog’s brief chat with Capt. Naicker, click on the video below.

For a brief chat with SANCCOB’s representative at the Ngqurha port leg of the roadshow, Ms Monica Stassen click below.

For a brief chat with DFFE & IMOrg official, Ms Feroza Albertus.

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Prevention of oil pollution at seas, the focus of Day of Seafarers 2023 celebrations on Sunday: Department of Transport.

Pretoria: 23 June 2023

Global celebrations of the Day of the Seafarer on 25 June 2023 – falling on Sunday this year – shifts its focus somewhat from welfare-centric matters towards one key environmental issue of general concern in the maritime sector: sea oil pollution and current as well as future mitigating measures against it.

According to the Department of Transport (DoT), lead organisers of South Africa’s marking of the annual International Maritime Organisation (IMO) event, to be hosted in coastal cities; Durban Gqeberha and Cape Town on Tuesday, 27 June 2027; the theme for this year’s celebrations, as endorsed by IMO is: Marpol at 50 – Our Commitment goes on.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) which jointly with the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI) will co-host the event in Durban and Gqeberha, respectively, says the theme spotlights the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), which covers prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

“It also reflects the IMO’s long history of protecting the environment from the impact of shipping via a robust regulatory framework, whilst emphasizing its ongoing commitment to this important work.

“The theme is also linked to pursuing the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which include affordable and clean energy (SDG 7); industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9); climate action and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources (SDGs 13 and 14); and the importance of partnerships and implementation to achieve these goals (SDG 17),” says SAMSA.

Transnet’s N-Shed hal at the port of Durban, the venue of this year’s leg of the marking of the Day of the Seafarer to be hosted by SAMSA on Tuesday, 27 June 2023

Hosted simultaneously at the coastal cities, with SAMSA in Durban, SAIMI in Gqeberha, and the DoT in Cape Town on Tuesday, the day’s proceedings will, in addition to a key address by the Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga; involve panel presentations and engagements focussing on what the public and private sectors, education institutions and related in South Africa, are doing jointly or individuals as groups, to contribute to the realisation of goals of the IMO Marpol Convention, as consistent also with the UN’s sustainable development goals.

The event, to which seafarers will fully participate and contribute, is scheduled to start at 08h30 and end at 15h00 in all three cities.

End.

World oceans are drowning in plastic waste, the shipping industry is not the culprit: SAMSA

ships at sea.jpg

Pretoria: 28 July 2017

The world’s oceans may be drowning fast in a mess of global plastic waste – estimated currently at some 275 million metric tons and in its wake, threatening all life on earth – but the shipping industry on which close on 90% of world trade depends, is not the culprit. Well, not quite.

That is because global shipping practices at sea are highly guarded through a number of international regulations, otherwise known as conventions, and closely monitored by member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) including South Africa, the latter through the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).

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Captain Ravi Naicker, South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) Centre for Sea Watch and Rescue national operations manager. Cape Town

This was revealed by SAMSA’s Centre for Sea Watch and Response (CSWR) during a mini conference hosted jointly by the SAMSA, United States Consulate, the International Ocean Institute and the V&A Waterfront held at the Two Oceans Acquarium at Cape Town’s Waterfront recently.

The mini conference occurred within a week of the wrap up of an even bigger oceans plastic waste gathering, the Africa Marine Waste Conference, held over five days in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape in early July, attended by about 250 delegates including a high contingent of scientists from Africa, the US, and Asia Pacific countries.

At the Cape Town event, keynote speakers included Dr Jenna Jambeck, an associate professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia, United States, and director of the Center for Circular Materials Management at New Materials Institute; John Duncan of the World Wildlife Fund and Dr Anthony Ribbink, CE of Sustainable Seas Trust.

SAMSACSWR national operations manager, Captain Ravi Naicker, explained that global shipping involving millions of trade cargo vessels at sea daily – and therefore the most potential culprits for massive plastic and related waste pollution of the oceans – were actually not the culprits.

The revelation came against the backdrop of statistics showing that South Africa ranked No.11 in the world for waste management production and that the country alone was responsible for 12% of global plastic waste and about 2% of total mismanaged plastic waste, leading to between 0.9-0.25 megatons of it ending as marine plastic waste annually.

img_3102-722017With an estimated population of some 12.9-million people occupying the coastal line of South Africa, this amounted to about two kilograms of plastic waste per person per annum.

Globally, the world’s 192 countries situated along oceans and seas across the globe were said to generate as much as 2.5-billion metric tons of solid waste, of which 275-million metric tons was plastic waste and an estimated 8-million metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste ended up in the seas in 2010, according to statistics by Dr Jenna Jambeck.

Just over 6-million metric tons of the global (coastal countries) mismanaged plastic waste dumped at seas was currently still floating freely at the surface of global oceans waters, in the process, placing all life both in the oceans as well as on land, at extremely high risk.

According to Dr Jambeck, one of the contributing factors to widespread distribution of plastic waste is that: “In use – (plastic) items that are designed to last forever are only used a short period of time. 40% of plastic production is for packaging – and there are packaging needs for essential foods and things, but I will argue that we should rethink our systems and designs to meet those needs”

a-2Captain Naicker said ocean going vessels globally in South Africa’s oceans space contributed very little to this as waste management on ships was highly regulated.

He said the Africa region alone had about 18 000 vessels traversing its waters annually, with just over 3 000 of these sailing through South Africa’s oceans space equivalent some 1.5-million square kilometers of an Economic Exclusive Zone, from the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean through to the Indian Ocean.

Yet, of 1469 vessels randomly stopped for inspection over a six year period between 2011 and 2017, only 2.5% were detained for violation of environmental management protocols at sea, and only about 0.1% were responsible for garbage and record keeping violations.

SAMSA is the country’s State agency tasked through legislation (the SAMSA Act 1998) with responsibility for ensuring safety of life and property at sea, the combating and prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships, and promoting South Africa’s maritime interests.

Guiding the agency’s activities with regards the first two objectives relating specifically to safety of life and property as well as sound integrity of the marine environment, were six (6) International Conventions for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships (MARPOL Annextures) pieces of legislation binding member port states of the IMO for strict implementation in their respective ocean spaces.

In addition all trade vessels registered (flagged) in countries that are signatories to MARPOL are subject to the legislation and associated regulations regardless of where they sail in the world.

“These clearly state that ships using South African waters have no right to pollute seas while sailing here and that we are entitled to take action against should they fail to observe the law.

“However, member states are also required to provide facilities that enable ships to dispose of waste they cannot manage responsibly on board the vessels.” said Capt Naicker.

For his full presentation (about nine [9] minutes) Click on the video.

To read more on Dr Jambeck’s work, Click Here, and Here

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Arrested Taiwanese fishing vessel released from South Africa

RELEASED: Taiwanese fishing vessel released by South African authorities on Tuesday after it was arrested earlier this month and on inspection by SAMSA, was found to have violated anti-pollution conventions governing management of vessels at sea.
RELEASED: Taiwanese fishing vessel released by South African authorities on Tuesday after it was arrested earlier this month and on inspection by SAMSA, was found to have violated anti-pollution conventions governing management of vessels at sea.

Cape Town:  27 September, 2016

A Taiwanese fishing vessel arrested and detained in South Africa earlier this month has been released, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) confirmed on Tuesday.

SAMSA said in Cape Town on Wednesday that the vessel was released after it settled admissions of contravention imposed on it relating to violations it was found to have committed while sailing in the country’s waters on the Indian Ocean.

It had been found non-compliant with International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, (MARPOL) as there was no record in the Oil Record Book of oily waste having been landed ashore or discharged through the oily water separator, a SAMSA statement said.

The arrest of the vessel known as the Chin Jen Wen on 09 September was conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF)  after it was spotted through the department’s Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) apparently entering the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from Mossel Bay towards  Cape Town.

DAFF initially suspected that the vessel had not applied for permission to be in the area. Fisheries protection vessels including The Victoria Mxenge were then set successfully on its pursuit and arrest eventually culminating in its detention at the port of Cape Town.

While in detention under the Marine Living Resources Act, according to DAFF spokesman, Ms Bomikazi Molapo; the vessel would undergo a thorough inspection conducted by all relevant law enforcement stakeholders, including SAMSA – the country’s maritime safety authority.

SAMSA sought to ensure that it complied with all relevant international maritime conventions relevant to that type of vessel. SAMSA also used its jurisdiction as a Coastal State to ensure that the vessel was of no threat to the State from a safety and pollution perspective.

Ms Molapo said: “The Minister has undertaken to intensify the fight against any form of illegal fishing in our exclusive economic zone to ensure that our resources are utilized for the benefit of the country to reduce poverty and ensure food security for all. South African waters remain a sovereign jurisdiction and its marine living resources will be protected by the Department”.

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Arrested Taiwanese fishing trawler still in detention

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Pretoria: 12 September 2016

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) is continuing with investigations of a Taiwanese fishing trawler nabbed off the southern part of the Indian Ocean and detained in Cape Town at the weekend on suspicion of illegal activity.

The arrest of the vessel known as the Chin Jen Wen; was conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) late last week after the trawler was spotted through the department’s Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) apparently entering the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from Mossel Bay towards  Cape Town.

According to DAFF, suspicion had been aroused as the vessel had not applied for permission to be in the area. Fisheries protection vessels including The Victoria Mxenge were then set successfully on its pursuit and arrest eventually culminating in its detention at the port of Cape Town.

While in detention under the Marine Living Resources Act, according to DAFF spokesman, Ms Bomikazi Molapo; the vessel would undergo a thorough inspection conducted by all relevant law enforcement stakeholders, including SAMSA – the country’s maritime safety authority.

The Taiwanese trawler is the latest to be arrested and detained by South African authorities in 2016 due to suspicion of illegal or unauthorized fishing activity on the country’s waters.

In a recent incident also off the Indian Ocean along the Eastern Cape coast, a set of Chinese fishing vessels were arrested on suspicion of illegal activity. While initially suspected of illegal fishing, owners were eventually fined for a variety of law transgressions relating to general management of the vessels.

In Pretoria on Thursday last week, Ms Molapo said: “The Minister has undertaken to intensify the fight against any form of illegal fishing in our exclusive economic zone to ensure that our resources are utilised for the benefit of the country to reduce poverty and ensure food security for all. South African waters remain a sovereign jurisdiction and its marine living resources will be protected by the Department,” she said.

In Cape Town at the weekend, the Taiwanese vessel was inspected by SAMSA to ensure that it complied with all relevant international maritime conventions relevant to that type of vessel. SAMSA also used its jurisdiction as a Coastal State to ensure that the vessel was of no threat to the State from a safety and pollution perspective.

The investigation established that the vessel was non-compliant with International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution (MARPOL) as there was no record in the Oil Record Book of oily waste having been landed ashore or discharged through the oily water separator. The vessel remains in detention pending finalization of the inspection on Tuesday.

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