SHIPPING AND MARITIME TRANSPORT 2012-2013 - ANAVE June 2012 | Page 5

Management Plan. In the latter field, the IMO has postponed any "market instruments" until a system of direct assessment and monitoring of CO2 emissions from ships is put in place. On 20 August 2012, the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) reached the conditions agreed for its entry into force, which will take place at the same date of this year 2013. It has already been ratified by 36 States with almost 70% of the world merchant fleet gross tonnage. In March 2012, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on sustainable ship recycling, which was welcomed by the shipping industry because, except for some specific points, it substantially aligned with the Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling (HKC) adopted by the IMO. However, during the discussion in first reading at the European Parliament, the Environment Committee (ENVI) approved some amendment proposals further diverging from the HKC, including the establishment of a recycling levy to be paid by all vessels calling at Europeans ports. Only through co-operation among all maritime interests (and especially between ECSA and ESPO) it was possible that, at the Parliament Plenary, these amendments were rejected. This way, the Parliament ratified his confidence in IMO as the forum that should preferably regulate international shipping, well in line with the decision taken last year regarding the Directive on the sulphur content of marine fuels. The European Commission also resumed in 2012 a matter of fundamental importance for the shipping industry and with a very complex evolution: the European policy on ports and port services. Initially the Commission seemed to avoid the "transversal" approach that in the past led to the rejection by the Parliament of two proposals for Directives on this subject, launching separate studies on two of the most contentious issues: pilotage exemption certificates and cargo handling. But, by the end of May 2013, the Commission surprised us by adopting a draft Regulation that does not address the labour aspects of cargo handling, which is intended to self-regulate through the "social dialogue". It is not easy to predict the evolution of this proposal and how this new approach may affect the case open against the Spanish legislation on cargo handling, on which the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Spain in October 2012 and to which the Spanish government replied by defending its compatibility with the freedoms recognized in the EU treaties. In addition, the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, has two very important files pending with the maritime sector. First, the revision of the 2004 Guidelines on State aid to maritime transport, which are the legal basis for special registers, tonnage tax systems, etc. and which extension is absolutely essential to maintain the

competitiveness of European shipping industry in the global context. And, on a strictly Spanish field, after authorising in November 2012 a new tax lease system to the Spanish government, it is increasingly urgent that the Commission closes favourably the case opened in June 2011, recognizing that all the parties acted with "legitimate expectations" on the acts of the Spanish government and the European Commission. In Spain, both shipping companies and the Administration are preparing, in close co-operation, for the implementation of ILO Maritime Labour Convention 2006. Every time a new legal instrument enters into force, there is a new bureaucratic burden for shipping companies that must be minimized. ANAVE is particularly proud of the training course that it has developed in collaboration with Bureau Veritas and that has made it possible to prepare shipping companies personnel, both on board and on land, for flag and port state inspections. ANAVE has also been working very actively with the Administration in the Draft Law of Maritime Navigation, which we strongly support with minimum reservations on a few points of detail. Will 2013 finally be the year of its effective parliamentary approval? As of January 1 2013, 136 merchant ships totalling 2,528,291 GT and 2,249,184 dwt were registered in the Special Canary Islands Register (REC). Throughout 2012, this fleet had decreased in 7 units resulting in declines of 1.3% in GT and 2.3% in dwt, what demonstrate the continuation of the lack of competitiveness of the REC versus other EU registries, as Madeira or Malta. Therefore, and in conclusion, we cannot avoid closing these lines, one year more, insisting on the need to solve the problems of competitiveness of the Spanish flagged merchant fleet. From ANAVE we have reiterated to the Administration, over this year, that the REC could be one of the most attractive ship registers in Europe, but that the legal uncertainty in the enrolment of foreign seafarers seriously damages its competitiveness and thus also harms the employment opportunities for Spanish seafarers. We have highlighted the increasingly urgent need to revise this regulation. But the problem remains unsolved so far.

Foreword by the President

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