Katharina Stanzel

INTERTANKO was this week invited to speak alongside the IMO Secretariat on the Ballast Water Convention at the 11th Panama Maritime Conference and Exhibition (www.panamamaritimeconference.com).During her presentation on ‘Financial and Technical Impacts of the Convention on Shipping’, INTERTANKO Managing Director, Katharina Stanzel, provided the 150-strong audience with details of the industry’s and INTERTANKO Members’ ongoing concerns over system tests, suitability and realworld performance and described the direct and indirect costs and issues remaining to be addressed to ensure owners are not unfairly penalised for non-compliance if operating in good faith.

Stanzel ended by thanking Panama as a Flag and Coastal State for joining and supporting the efforts made by INTERTANKO, together with other governments and industry groups, to flag up and solve these issues before an eventual entry into force of the Convention.

The conference, having been opened by IMO Secretary General Koji Sekimizu, also covered topics ranging from IMO’s commitment to promoting a sustainable maritime industry, and the expected effects of the expanded Panama Canal on international trade from 2015, to lessons learnt from ports and logistics hubs in Europe, the Middle and Far East and US.

The very diverse list of topics also included an LNG business outlook for the region, maritime security issues and shipbuilding considerations on costs and safety of energy efficiency equipment.