I would like to express gratitude on behalf of the Japan Maritime Center, to those whohave come to the seminar or taken part remotely, despite their busy schedule.
It’s a long program lasted about 4 and a half hours, having started at 1:30 p.m. Now, I
would like to look back today’s presentations. The first speaker was Mr.Sivertsen, whoassumed the present position of the Director of the IOPC Funds, the co-sponsor of thisjoint seminar last year. He talked about the role, activities and recent challenges of theIOPC Funds including the most recent Princess Empress incident.
Mr.Sivertsen had been following the meetings of the Governing Bodies of the Funds
since early 1990’s without break, and had served as the Chairman of the Assembly of the1992 Funds for a substantial length of time, before taking the present position.
IOPC Funds have, since their inauguration in 1978, successfullycompensated for the oil pollution damages and expenses for clean-up operations, fundedby the contributors, who are oil receivers around the world based on the international
Conventions. Japan is one of the State members of the Funds since their establishment,
and the late Professor Tanikawa is said to be one of the Founding fathers of the Funds. Ifeel honoured that Japan has contributed to the formation of the policy matters of theFunds, and to the development of their institution.
The next speaker, Dr.Otubo, who is a Distinguished Research Fellow of JTTRI and aformer Director General of the Maritime Bureau of Japanese Government, discussed thepolicy mix which enables the decrease of marine casualties and marine pollution byimproving the safety standards of ships which are the source of these inconveniences. Heput stresses on Japan’s contributions for the unified global efforts towards establishing aglobal system for this end.
After the coffee break, Captain Cooper of OCIMF, which was established in 1970 as aforum to provide with best practices and inspections for the purpose of safer transport ofoil by sea, introduced SIRE 2.0 program, which is an enhanced version of inspection,
and also most recent activities of OCIMF.
Despite all these efforts, once the incidents occur, clean-up operations, mitigations ofdamage and compensations are required. ITOPF is a technical adviser for the IOPC
Funds for assessing claims on those occasions, and is giving various advises regarding oiland non-oil pollution incidents relating to Japan, including the Nakhodka incident in1997 in the past. Ms.Terrien of ITOPF introduced the enlarging activities of ITOPF,
which is not limited to oil pollution. I was very impressed by the account on the actual
Santi case, and the remarks on the importance of establishing confidence among thoseengaged in clean-up operations.
The next speaker was Captain Fujino of the NYK Line, and he talked
1about commitment of the shipping company representing Japan. From the viewpoint of‘safety as the most important environmental measures’, he stressed that NYK is, as ashipping company responsible for its own fleet engaged in the transportation of energy,
introduced its own audit scheme and a safety system covering its entire fleet.
Lastly Mr.Adachi, the Deputy Director General of the Japan Coast Guard, gave
explanation on the present situation of marine pollution surrounding Japan, and thesystem in which the Japan Coast Guards operates for the oil pollution clean-ups andmarine environment protection in general, and future outlook.
Now, I would like to sum up the discussions so far. The international regime forcooperation against the oil pollution clean-ups, protection of environment andcompensation, has worked fairly well since its establishment. The cooperation of theFunds with the relating industry organizations, ITOPF and OCIMF, has been supporting
this scheme. The relation with the contributors, shipping industries, P and I clubs andthe other insurers who are present at the floor is also important for this system.
We cannot stress too much the contribution that this country has made so far for thegood functioning of this international system. Through these efforts, the tanker casualties
of Japan and the world are on decrease. But it may not be possible by Japan’s effort alone
to terminate the incidents surrounding Japan, depending on the circumstances of thesurrounding countries. It follows that an international insurance measure is needed.
It is also anticipated that a sift to the energy of the next generation
may take place in the future. There was also an argument that we should be prepared forthe changing situation. Regarding the HNS Convention, summing up was made that thekey factor for the successful system may depend on how the contribution system is devised.
IOPC Funds has been equipped with an Audit Body, since early 2000’s, composed of 7
(6 elected from Contracting States) members. Succeeding the late Professor Tanikawa,Professor Ochiai, Mr.Harunari, the former Director General of the Maritime Bureau took
offices in succession, and I am the 4th Japanese representative to the Audit Body. The
mandate of the Audit Body includes giving advice to the IOPC Funds on the financial
audit, assignment of the external auditor, and mitigating risks surrounding the Funds forthe continuance of their business in a broader sense. Next month, triennial election willtake place. We hope that we will also be represented in the next Audit Body, and willcontinue to contribute to the good functioning of the Funds, hence we ask your support
for our effort.
I would like to address my sincere gratitude to each presenter, and especially toProfessor Fujita of Tokyo University, the Chairman of the panel, who has been engaged
in the Funds matters since the diplomatic conference back in 1992, and serving as the2Deputy Chair of the Assembly of the 1992 Fund. We had a very interesting andstimulating discussion.
Thank you again everyone for taking part in this seminar today.

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