29th September 2022 is United Nations World Maritime Day. A day that allows us to reflect on our engagement with our friends and colleagues in the maritime community.
OSRL has a rich maritime heritage, the environmental protection of which was at the core of why oil companies first established our centre of expertise some 40 years ago. Shipping was and remains a global business; with it comes the risk of accidental pollution, which stakeholders must invest in to prevent, prepare for, and, if necessary, respond to accidents that may happen.
OSRL has evolved considerably over the intervening time to meet the challenge of new pollution risks, onshore and offshore, throughout the energy value chain. Still, we never overlook the shipping risks initially providing our raison d'etre. Today the risks of marine pollution are not just about oil and don't just originate from ships.
The drive for decarbonisation of the world fleet calls for innovation toward alternative fuels. This change, in turn, requires the marine community to be responsive to a range of non-conventional pollution risks as well as traditional ones.
This year's World Maritime Day theme is New Technologies for Greener Shipping. It reflects the need to support a green transition of the maritime sector into a sustainable future. It provides an opportunity for the marine community to focus on the importance of a sustainable maritime industry and the need to build back better and greener in a post-pandemic world.
In OSRL, this ambition resonates with our focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 14 concerning the protection of life below water and SDG 17 concerning global partnerships for sustainable development.
We take great pride in developing and maintaining meaningful relationships with stakeholder organisations that we interface with in our world of marine environmental protection. These include Itopf, the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, the International Group of P&I Clubs, Salvors and the IMO.
All these organisations share our desire to encourage the adoption and implementation of the international conventions that promote pollution prevention, preparedness and response in all its forms.
OSRL was then and remains today a centre of excellence and a world leader in pollution response, a home to industry-recognised experts and a vast stockpile of equipment and resources with a truly global presence.
So on World Maritime Day, we celebrate these marine-borne relationships and look forward to future collaboration toward our shared aims.
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