The 2023 Asia-Pacific Heads of Maritime Safety Agencies (APHoMSA) forum, co-hosted by Australia and Mongolia in Sydney, has concluded with key actions centred around continued collaboration to reduce greenhouse gas and increase safety for mariners.
The 26 participating countries shared their respective developments in the forum's five key priority areas - women in maritime, safety at sea including seafarer welfare, marine environment protection, regional cooperation, and maritime incident response - and agreed on new shared initiatives to further progress in these areas.
Amongst the many initiatives discussed, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction was a key focus area for the group which noted the importance of the IMO adopting a revised GHG strategy with a view to adoption of the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships by the IMO at MEPC 80.
Head of the Australian delegation Leanne Loan said Australia supported an ambitious approach to phasing out Greenhouse Gas emissions from international shipping by 2050.
"The Revised Strategy must set international shipping on a practical and achievable pathway to the new 2050 ambition. This includes setting interim targets for a percentage of the global fuel mix or global fleet to consist of low and zero emission fuels or vessels, to stimulate demand for low emission fuels," she said.
"The Australian government has also recently committed to establishing the Maritime Emissions Reduction National Action Plan (MERNAP) which will seek to support industry in this transition by setting a nationally consistent strategic direction," she said.
Ms Loan also discussed Australian initiatives to support this plan, including shore-side power facilities, alternative fuel hubs and green shipping corridors being considered at Australian ports and said AMSA has observed strong interest from the Australian maritime industry in biofuels to transition existing ships with minimal need to retrofit.
Another key outcome of the forum was agreement on the importance of drafting of a Global Strategy for Women in Maritime Associations to make sure the progress being made to increase psychological and physical safety of mariners is applied globally. This includes mandatory training provisions on psychological safety, bullying, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
For more information on APHoMSA visit aphomsa.org