Current regulations in the Polar regions

AECO

Assiociation of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators

Frigg Jørgensen,

General secretary

ILJA LANG

AECO General Presentation 2012

― Responsible, environmentally-friendly and safe tourism

― 27 members, 19 of which operate…

― App 25 expedition cruise vessels in the Arctic (8 - 318 passengers)

Association for Arctic Expedition

cruise operators (AECO)

THE ARCTIC

AECO uses the same

definition as the IMO

(International Maritime

Organization) do in the

Polarcode, i.e.:

60 degree north

with exceptions

AECO’s core areas are Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Greenland

but the association aims at expanding to all Arctic areas.


― All AECO members have an obligation to

operate in accordance with local, national and

international laws and regulations,

comply with AECO guidelines and by-laws and other

requirements


AECO membership requirements

OPERATIONAL

GUIDELINES

VISITORS

GUIDELINES

AECO’S SITE

GUIDELINES

AECO’s comprehensive

operational guidelines for

operators in the Arctic.

AECO’s guidelines for

visitors to the Arctic in

different languages.

Site specific guidelines for

visitors to different sites in

the Arctic.


AECO’s guidelines

Norwegian ship safety Act

Norwegian Harbor and fairway Act

Port state control in Svalbard

Regulation regarding duty to report position

in Svalbard

Regulation relating the use of

Bellsund – vanMijen waters

Duty to notify ship accidents and incidents

NOx tax Norway

Jan Mayen nature reserves

Protected areas regulations in Svalbard

Heavy fuel oil prohibition

Closure of historical sites

Eastern Svalbard issue

Pilot Act Svalbard

Duty to carry observer in Greenland

Management plan for Greenland

national park

Executive Order on tourism in Greenland

Pairing of vessels in Greenland

Risk assessment Eastern Svalbard

Polar Code

Hearing & regulation processes


PROJECTS Project Project-costs

2007 Guidelines for visitors 72 000

2007 Guide-conference 280 000

2009 Pre-study cruise guide training 50 000

2009 Site guidelines I 750 000

2010 Study: Environmental impact from cruise 460 000

2010 Pre-study cruise database 60 000

2012 Site guidelines II 900 000

2012 Cruise database 900 000

2012 Decontamination , measures to prevent introduction of alien species in the Arctic environment

150 000

Under consideration

Expedition leader conference – Greenland

Web-based cruise guide education

Vessel Tracking System

AECO General Presentation 2012 EXPEDITION VESSELS & CAPACITY

Vessels 200 + pax

Vessel Pax

Fram 318

Le Borealis 262


Vessels 100 – 200 pax Vessel Pax

Hanseatic 184

Nordstjernen 170

Bremen 164

National Geographic Explorer 148

Silver Explorer 132

Expedition 124

Clipper Adventure 122

Kapitan Khlebnikov 120

Caledonian Sky 120

Akademik Ioffe 117

Plancius 114

Akademik Sergey Vavilov 110

Ortelius 100


Vessels 50 – 100 pax

Vessel Pax

Sea Spirit 84

Ocean Nova 73

Polar Pioneer 54

Quest 53


Vessels 20 – 50 pax

Vessel Pax

Spirit of Enderby 48

Rembrandt van Rijn 34

Antigua 32

Noorderlicht 20


Vessels ≥ 20 pax

Vessel Pax

Stockholm 12

Polaris 12

Southern Star 10

Albarquel 8

Hanse Explorer 8

AECO General Presentation 2012 AECO Passenger numbers

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Svalbard

Greenland

Jan Mayen

Total pax


AECO and expedition cruise traffic

- not the only cruise traffic in the Arctic

• Conventional cruise traffic

– App 50 calls

– 30 000 pax Svalbard

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Svalbard 34.760 34.908 40.256 38.737 38.269 35.448 33.896

Greenland 16.446 22.051 23.506 28.891 26.976 30.271 29.826

Numbers include all commercial cruise traffic Sources: Governor of Svalbard, Greenland Tourism and Statistics Greenland.


Total number of cruise passengers Svalbard & Greenland 2005 – 2011





NAUTICAL

CHARTS

Of utmost importance

for safe operations

Poorly chartered waters – not the only safety risk in Polar waters



Unknown submarine topography (lack of adequate charts)

Inadequate ship design/Ship limitations

Inexperienced crew

Presence of glacial ice (icebergs, growlers, bergy bits)

Presence and variability of sea ice

Instability of ice features (glaciers, ice floes, icebergs)

Sudden, violent, typically localized, extreme and rather unpredictable changes in the weather.

Inadequate navigational and communications equipment

Not readily available SAR assets (spatially and/or temporally)

Deficiencies in SAR coordination, coverage & assets

Inadequacy of lifesaving appliances in Polar conditions (given climatic extremes and likely delayed

SAR response)

Icing (rough seas and cold air temperature)

Crew and expedition staff fatigue

Biological fouling (kelp)

Lack of known safe anchorages, (safer not to anchor, box-navigation)

Cold air and water temperatures

Limited SAR resources

Poorly maintained vessels

Passengers with medical pre-conditions

Large seas (wind driven) and swells

Instability in the compass in very high Latitudes

Absence of navigational aids (such as lights and buoys)

Reduced visibility (whiteout)

Local currents and tidal stream

Safety risks in Polar waters


Voyage risk assessment

A dynamic risk assessment based on score system

RISK CATEGORY RISK SCORE DESCRIPTION

LOW RISK 0-1000

No additional mitigation measures necessary more than

normal. Ship should follow standing orders and routine

procedures from the SMS.

MEDIUM RISK 1000-2000 Additional measures should be considered in order to lower

the risk score as much as possible.

HIGH RISK >2000

Unacceptable risk. The ship should avoid the area or

activity or depart the area if the score should increase

from Medium to High after arrival.


Navigation in poorly chartered waters

Use chartered corridors only

Use soundings from previous voyages

Enlarging corridors step by step

Handheld depth sounders – zodiac in front of mother

vessels

Forward looking sonar

Use of crowd sourcing, e.g Olex

Systematic soundings through years

www.aeco.no

http://www.aeco.no/

Documents

Current regulations in the Polar regions