Editorial:
The Baltic Sea challenge

This conflict of interests between shipping and the environment must be solved and there can be no loser.

The Baltic Sea is an area where significant conflicts of interests have to be solved. It is a highly vulnerable sea area. Next to the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea is the largest body of brackish water in the world. Marine and freshwater organisms live side by side. It is also extremely sensitive to pollution since it takes 20 to 30 years for the water to change.
The Baltic Sea is exposed to all pollution sources in a region with more than 100 million inhabitants.
It is also a sea where the already intense shipping activities are expected to increase significantly. The Baltic coastal states’ environmental co-operation organisation Helcom predicts a 300 per cent increase during the next 15 years.
The reasons behind are predominantly positive. Increased living conditions, the EU expansion and the transfer of transports from land based modes to the sea will make the Baltic Sea a thriving shipping arena.
Increased shipping however also means increased impact on the marine environment. Increased oil exports from Russia will also increase the risk for a major oil spill.
This conflict of interests between shipping and the environment must be solved and there can be no loser.
It will be a major challenge to find solutions for increased maritime transports while at the same time decrease the environmental impact from shipping activities. This can only be achieved by co-operation between countries, organisations and by all actors in the shipping market.
The rules have to be set by political decisions, and those should be based more on incentives for change and development than by regulations.
Decisions that affect shipping must also be taken with a wide perspective. Maritime transport is an integrated part of industrial processes, and decisions that changes the conditions for shipping will affect other links in the logistical chain. If shipping activities are restricted or become less effective as a consequence of political decisions, there is also a risk that cargo transports are transferred from sea to land.
A major issue in this context is sub-standard shipping. Ship owners without conscience and rustbuckets operated by incompetent crews are major threats to maritime safety and the marine environment.
The only reason why sub-standard operators exist is that they obviously have a place in the market. This place is given to them by cargo owners not willing to pay the cost for quality shipping.
New rules, regulations and stricter inspections will not be enough to exterminate sub-standard shipping. This can only be done by the customer – the cargo owner. Therefore, the role and the responsibility of the cargo owner is an essential issue for increased maritime safety and cleaner seas.

Rolf Petrén Nilsson
Editor-in-Chief

Back to SSG 2, 24 January