Innovation and safety, sustainability and domestic shipping are just some of the talking points at this year’s British Shipping Conference, being held in Guernsey this week.
The event at St Pierre Park Hotel is bringing together those involved with maritime and coastal state responsibilities in the Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies, and the UK.
Together they make up the Red Ensign Group, which essentially holds a log of all ships owns by these specific jurisdictions.
There are also delegates in attendance from the non-ship registry Overseas Territories of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Ascension and Tristan Da Cunha.
“Guernsey is proud to be hosting this year’s Red Ensign Group conference, which is an important forum to share knowledge and expertise,” said James Way, Acting Harbourmaster, Guernsey.
“The discussions that we have shape the maritime landscape in Guernsey. Not just from a ship’s registry point of view, but also from a coastal state point of view as well.”
Bailiff, Sir Richard McMahon opened the three day event yesterday explaining that the “conference is now very much about coastal surveillance and not just about registration of British ships”.
The REG conference began in 1988 as an opportunity for those involved in maritime industries to share ideas, harmonise processes, and discuss ways forward for sea safety.
Sir Richard said many people agreed how important it is to include non registered territories in these talks, explaining that some of the overseas territories have vast areas of sea for which they have responsibility and need support in.
This means if a ship gets into difficulties, then the diplomacy has already been dealt with and support can be sought from areas close to where it is needed.
Among the attending delegates is UK Maritime Minister Mike Kane.
“The British maritime fleet is one of the best in the world, and we can rightly be proud of the standards we hold and our seafarers who abide by them,” he said.
“Events like this are so important in bringing the British maritime community together so we can better tackle the big issues of our time, including safety and security, decarbonisation and pollution.”
Richard Pellew, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency Assistant Director said the talks will lead to further improvements in safety and standards across the world for all mariners.
“What we hope we will achieve at the end of this week will be a consistent and collaborative, forward thinking agenda on how our strategy is going to work in terms of the maritime sphere, not just here in Guernsey, but across all the REG members across the world.
“To recognise how far we have come, and what more needs to be done to improve the safety and standards of British shipping.”