Bst302 Dissertation Proposal Assignment For Assessment Answers

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Introduction

Ugurlu et al. (2015) stated that there are several types of marine accident that can occur and these are offshore oil rig mishaps, cruise vessel mishaps, accidents on tugboats, commercial fishing mishaps, crane mishaps, accidents on crude oil tankers and cargo ships, grounding of ships, accidents in shipyards,  accidents on barges, accidents on diving support vessels and  cargo hauling accidents. Faghih-Roohi, Xie and Ng (2014) also portrays that the main reason responsible for the marine accidents are the equipment failures due to lack of constant maintenance, necessary equipment auditing, breakdowns in operating procedures and lack of proper communication. Akyuz (2017) highlighted that there are some adverse impact of these incident on the marine environment especially when accidents related to the oil and gas industry like oil spill and deepwater horizon explosion occurs. This research highlights some common causes of marine accidents and its associated impact on the sea environment. The case studies of oil pollution due to oil spills and explosion are also highlighted. This research also aims for the investigation of the effectiveness of the international maritime laws and regulations and assess whether or not some amendments is required for the laws in order to provide more security to the marine environment.  

Background of the study

According to the report of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the year 2011, the type of marine accident in the Mediterranean Region is mainly occurred due to collision, grounding, fire and explosion, sinking, cargo transfer failure and other accidents (Rempec 2018). There were 17% cases of collision, 21% cases of groundings, 14% of fire and collisions, 9% of sinking cases, 11% and 28% of cargo transfer failures and other accidents respectively (Rempec 2018).The main reason for these accidents in the report is due to water ingress or vessels capsizing (Rempec 2018). Another problem that is noticed is that there is no maintenance of the ships and it is also found that there are 31% of ships that were between 16 and 25 years old 18% of ships are 35 years old (Rempec 2018). The report also shows that the rate of accident increased in the year 2007 and reduced till 2010 (Rempec 2018).

Compared to the year 1990 the number of accidental oil spills are diminished in 2005 but the problem of major accidental oil tanker spills still remained at an irregular interval of time (European Environment Agency 2018). It is found that every year; 10%-15% of oil enters into the ocean due to the accidental oil tanker spills (European Environment Agency 2018). Anyanova (2012) also stated that the impact of the marine accidents is the marine pollution and the diminished condition of the marine animals. Oil pollution and oil rigs explosions are the main reasons due to which pollution occurred in the Mediterranean region. Government also taken the initiative of developing rules and regulation on the marine pollution and the first such legislation is OILPOL 54 Treaty that addresses the oil pollution at sea (Qayum and Zhu 2018). Another treaty for maintaining the oil pollution is MARPOL 73/78 and Marine Environmental Protection Committee is also responsible for developing regulations that can take proper actions for avoiding the occurrence of the possibility of marine accidents. Problem with the OILPOL treat is that it takes much time to take any action as according to the convention, the necessary action will be taken if any problem in the sea is noticed. It is also found that OILPOL only targeted oily waste in the oceanic region within 50 nautical-mile coastal zones and focused more on the oil tankers resulting in no invigilation on non-tanker commercial vessels. As a result, tankers that operate outside the coastal zones, tankers crews are free to discharge oily waste diminishing the marine environment. Another adversity that is highlighted in OILPOL convention is that in coastal and port states, sufficient enforcement controls is lacking. This limited ability for monitoring oily discharge and lack of enthusiasm by the flag states in putting suspected offending vessels on trial resulting in ineffective dealing with oil pollution.

Moreover, some of the port states do not have sufficient equipments to monitor any adversity in sea. The disadvantage of the MARPOL 73/78 is that this convention focused on international, environmental and maritime law. Since there are many jurisdiction handling the regulation, time is a challenges as action in response to a suspected violation takes more time. Szepes (2013) also stated that in many cases; due to involvement of more cost states tend to defer some crucial responsibility in taking action in time. This is the main reason due to which the accidents in the marine region cannot be controlled properly. Since, after incorporating a number of legislations, the problem odd marine pollution due to oil pollution continues and thus, this research aimed to highlight all the crucial aspects that are included for diminishing the marine accidents based on the evidences found on the major causes of and impact of the marine accidents on the Mediterranean Region.

Rationale of the research

The problem for the occurrence of the marine accidents is the pollution due to which much marine wildlife gets hampered. The major reason for the marine pollution is due to oil and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of U.S. Department of Commerce, oil from boats leads to the pollution in the ocean (National Ocean Service 2018). Exxon Valdez oil spill is the largest oil spill in the US that is occurred due to the grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2018). Similarly, in Mediterranean region, Lebanon oil spill in August, 2006 is the worst oil spill that not only affects the sea animals but also creates problem to the human. Faghih-Roohi, Xie and Ng (2014) also highlighted a fact that these accidents leads to loss of important resources, careless nature of the desired marine workers, breakdown of equipments, natural disasters and terrorists attacks. However, there are many legislations imposed on the companies dealing in the marine route but in spite of following the legislation, these companies often opt paying the compensation that does not reduce the challenges of the occurrence of the marine accidents. Thus, it is important for analyzing the main reason for the occurrence of marine accidents and its possible impact. The research aims for finding whether or not the existing legislations are sufficient to address all the loss occurred by marine pollution and effective enough to reduce. Based on the findings on the research, this research also highlights some suggestion to improve the international maritime laws and regulations.

Aim of the research

The primary aim of the research is to find whether or not the present international maritime laws and regulations are effective in protecting the marine environment from the accident caused in the marine surface. The suggestion on the legislation is made based on the findings of the research on the common causes of maritime accidents occurrences and impacts raised due to marine calamities.

Objective of the research

• To investigate the most common causes of maritime accidents occurrences in Mediterranean Sea
• To identify the impacts due to marine calamities in Mediterranean Sea
• To suggest improvements regarding international maritime laws and regulations

Question of the research

• What are the most common causes of maritime accidents occurrences?
• What are the impacts raised due to marine calamities?
• Are there any improvements to be made regarding international maritime laws and regulations?   

Literature Review

Introduction 

Kum and Sahin (2015) stated that the damages in the ships and their facilities, which caused any calamities or death is known as marine accidents. There are many reasons from which the marine accidents can be occurred and it includes natural conditions, technical failures, improper route conditions, ship-related factors and human errors. However, there are other reasons also that can also be disadvantageous like offshore oil rig mishaps which occurred due to improper maintenance of the heavy machineries and the complex process that is involved in handling those machineries. Corovic and Djurovic (2013) also highlighted that people also overlook some minor issues and sometimes the issues is that recruited people are not properly trained. Cruise vessel mishaps also face the issue of capsizing and tough weather that causes great damage to the ship and causes harm impact on the ocean. Lee, Yun and Chung (2012) also stated that tugboats accidents that is occurred due to blockage of the visibility of tugboats due to the presence of big vessels. Another reason for the occurrence of the marine accidents is that when bottom of the ship’s hull gets rubbed into the ocean-bed. Kum and Sahin (2015) portrays that due to this scrapes through the ocean-bed, the ship’s hull gets adversely impacted and finally culminated creating pollution in the oceanic area. Oil spills due to the accidents of the vessel while transporting through the ocean creates water pollution and impacted the marine wildlife negatively. Government also imposed many rules for overcoming these adversities and reduces the marine accidents but gaps are present due to which the accidents in the maritime occur often. This chapter is based on the research that depicts Common causes of maritime accidents, damages occurred due to marine pollution, factors that enhances marine environment, impacts rose due to marine calamities, existing international maritime laws and regulations and its benefits and gaps in international maritime laws and regulations.

Common causes of maritime accidents

Offshore Oil Rig Mishaps

Sneddon, Mearns and Flin (2013) stated that the main causes for the offshore oil rig mishaps due to improper maintenance of the heavy machineries and less handling knowledge of those machineries. Xing et al. (2015) also depicted that there the major causes of the offshore oil rig mishaps are transportation accidents, contact with other objects, fires and explosions and falls, slips and trips. The transportation accidents occur due to more reliability of the offshore oil and gas workers on the helicopters and water vehicles for transportation into the rigs. Abimbola, Khan and Khakzad (2014) also portray that large vessels and cargos also came into contact with other ships which causes in marine accidents. The problem of fire and explosion is mainly occurred in the transportation of the oil and gas as these products are flammable materials which make the products easily to catch fire due to leakage or sparks (Middleditch 2012). Ismail et al. (2014) furthermore depicted that blowouts, negligence of human and equipment failures are common factors for the occurrence of fire and explosion. On 20^th of April 2010 incident of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill occurred resulting in leakage of 185 million gallons or five million barrels of oil in the water (Kuiper and Van den Brink 2012). The adverse impact that can be witnessed during these kinds of accidents is that oil remained stuck under the water surface which is difficult to remove.

Fire and Explosions 

The main reason for the occurrence of the fire is the presence of ignitions materials and combustible air (Vinnem 2013). Akyuz and Celik (2014) also highlight that leakage of the air and oil in the engine room resulting in the formulation of non-insulated hot area due to the fire in the engine room. Akyuz (2017) research that occurrence of fire is more favorable when the vessel is on passage at sea. It has been also found that most fire occurred in the Engine room due to short circuit on electrical equipments and fuel leakage. The prime reason for the occurrence of the leakage is poor maintenance of the equipments and proper auditing.  

Sinking 

The prime reason for sinking the ship is collision and can be cased due to natural reason or by sudden accidents with other cargos. Titanic is one of the cases of the natural collision with the iceberg. Ugurlu, Erol and Ba?ar (2016) also stated that the equipment breakdown is another reason for ships sinking and equipment breakdown near the ports, canals and busy routes results in groundings and collisions. Inefficient or careless crew members hired in the marine transports are negligent in case of routine checks of the ships. In many of the cases, due to negligence or poor communication, the ship’s crew members are unable to know about the weather forecasting which leads to the enhancement of increase the risk of accidents. One of the main reason due to which the ship sank is the explosion that results in the breakage of the ship body due to which water enters the ship and the ship sank. In some of the cases, collision also results in breakage of the ships due to friction and heavy force in the body of the ship.

Grounding

The main reason for the ship grounding is extreme load upon the ship and the impact is of two types- less severe accidents and severe accidents. Ugurlu et al. (2015) stated that in less severe accidents, only the damage is prepared to the hull; whereas, in case of serious accidents, hull breaches, cargo oil spill and sinking of ships can also occur. The major causes of the unintentional grounding are speed of the current, due to darkness, high tide and waves, depth of waterway, old vessel, size of the vessel and type of the vessel. Some of the major ships grounding cases are 2009 USS Port Royal grounding, Costa Concordia disaster, Rena grounding and oil spill, Exxon Valdez oil spill and SS Torrey Canyon. SS Torrey Canyon is an oil tanker that carried 120,000 tonnes of crude oil. The main reason for the grounding is environmental disaster. The ship was initially designed for transporting the capacity of 60,000 tonnes of crude oil but later enlarged to hold the capacity of 120,000 tonnes capacity in Japan. The size of the tank is huge and due to same reason, the ship could not pass through the Suez Canal and decided to go through the route of Africa by way of the Cape of Good Hope (The Guardian 2017). In this case, the due to high tide and current speed, the ship ground and spilled on the sea. British government also decided to set the wreck y fire so that lesser impact on the ocean can be made.   

The terms collision refer to the situation when two objects comes in contact with extreme force and in case of ship collision it is a structural impact between two ships or a ship with a floating object on the ocean. Chauvin et al. (2013) stated that some of the reasons for the ship collision are- debris on the ocean, environmental impact of the oil spill and damage to coastal or off-shore infrastructure. There are different type of collision like side collision that occur when one ship hit by another watercraft. Stern collision occurs when a watercraft runs into another ship’s stern or rear. Bow-on collision is a situation where two ships collide from their front and allision collision illustrates the ship accidents with a stationary objector. The major impact of the collision is that not only the oil on the tankers gets spilled but the ship’s parts also contribute to the pollution on the ocean.

Impact of marine calamities  

Diminished water quality 

Liu and Zhu (2014) portray that staring from the oil spills and the drainage of sewage water in the ocean resulting in pollution of the water bodies. The major damaged that is occurred in this case is that the external materials results in the reductions in oxygen levels, severe declination of the quality of the oxygen level and decay of water plants. These negative impacts of these things are that the marine wildlife is not able to grow due to presence of less oxygen (Schoenbaum 2012).

Loss of resources

The marine accidents occur due to the collision or explosion on the ocean surface. Doerffer (2013) also stated that when these accidents occurs not only the big vessels, ships or equipments gets hampered but lots of financial resources also gets impacted. Allo and Loureiro (2013) also depicted that the financial resources required is not only for cleaning the waste materials but also manufacturing the required equipments once again.

Loss of human life 

Problem of oil and gas cargo explosions leads to the oil spillage that creates many problems like air contamination. McCauley et al. (2015) stated that oil comprises of the many volatile compounds that emitted gases which is dangerous for the body if inhaled. In addition to that, people that have their profession related with water bodies like farmers and fishermen; they get in direct contact with the unprocessed oil which may results in incurable skin diseases. These contaminated water when used for farming leads to the development of food products that gets contaminated which on consuming leads to exposure to concentrations of contaminants.

Higher level of acidity

Akyuz (2017) stated that due to the marine accidents many external objects gets submerged in the water body. Some of these substances are toxic in nature that is chemicals and unprocessed oil. Liu and Zhu (2014) depicted that these substances makes the water body more poisonous and resulting harm to fish and marine mammals. The plants and the corals under the water also get affected due to which the marine environment gets diminished.

Effect on Food Chain

According to Wright, Thompson and Galloway (2013), food chain is a linear network of the links between the producer organisms to the consumers. In the marine bodies, tiny one-celled organisms (diatoms) start the food chain from the sunlight and these diatoms are fed by shrimplike creatures, which is further fed by the fish and then the human eat those fishes. However, marine accidents due to the oil spill block the sunlight hampers the food processing system of the diatoms and the process furthermore affects the quality of the food chain. Walker and Livingstone (2013) also portrays that chemicals do not dissolved in the ocean and on ingesting the chemicals by the small organism, the entre food chain gets affected resulting in poor health of the consumers.

Factors that enhances marine environment 

Carefulness on the chemical compositions 

It is fact that the main reason for the climate change and the marine pollution occurred due excess human interference. The impact of the chemicals on the ocean bodies can be diminished if eco-friendly compositions can be formulated (Gerlach 2013). Vernberg and Vernberg (2013) also stated that careful site monitoring should be included and different governing legislations should also be imposed so that the chemical manufacturers keep those regulations in mind. This approach will help in reducing the adversity of the mixing chemicals in the ocean body.  

Regular inspection 

Some of the marine accidents cannot be controlled as it occurs accidentally. However, the impact of the marine accidents can be diminished if regular inspection can be conducted as it allows the management people to identify the factors due to which the accidents might occur. Moreover, in the existing condition of the marine environment also allow the people in-charge to forecast when the machinery needs to be changes and repaired. These approaches are useful for reducing the impact of the marine pollution.

Strict governing rules 

Walker and Livingstone (2013) highlighted that the rules and regulations are important for binding all the people of a community. Regulations are important as it ensures the ethical proceedings and general safety to accomplish a work (Radovic et al. 2014). In case of handling the marine pollution, the strict governing rules and legislations promotes understanding of the fair practices, gaining different aspects of the legal concerns and getting indulging with industry laws and regulations (Leifer et al. 2012). Thus, it can be said that if government impose strict regulations and penalty based on the marine working procedures of an organization, the business firms will not take any steps that can harm the marine life.  

It is found that every year, 4 and 12 million metric tons of plastic waste in thrown to the ocean and due to this problem; many marine accidents occur (Gerlach 2013). Scientists also found that these plastic wastes also impact the quality of the marine life which includes sea turtles, seabirds, fish, whales and coral reefs. These plastic wastes also cause marine accidents if stuck in the way while transporting the materials from one place to the other. Thus, regular clean up of the ocean reduces the probability of the accidents. Leifer et al. (2012) furthermore suggested that initiatives for ocean cleanups can be taken through awareness campaigns, volunteering programs and imposing laws.

Training to the marine workers 

Boubonari, Markos and Kevrekidis (2013) stated that the main reason for occurrence of any adversity is lack of knowledge in the issue and the adversity might rise if the knowledge for preventing the problem is not provided. Training is one of the effective measures that can not only provides knowledge on the subject matter but also improve the decisions making ability. The situation of the marine pollution can be overcome through training by teaching the employee on the probable reason due to which the marine pollution occur and the existing methods to overcome the adversity.

Types of marine calamities

Maritime Accidents

Chauvin et al. (2013) depict that the accidents that occurred in the marine bodies or ocean is known as maritime accidents. One of the prime reasons for the occurrence of the maritime accidents is offshore accidents. The term offshore accidents are mainly caused by the accidental falls of the employees, failure of equipments and fire in the deck of the ships (Montewka, Goerlandt and Kujala 2012). Tirunagari et al. (2012) also highlight that the main reason for the severity of the maritime accidents is that the help occurred lately due to long distance from the nearest aid. Moreover, the lag time makes the consequences even worse. In addition to that, the workers also have to deal with dangerous machinery in difficult weather.   

There are many reasons for the occurrence of the offshore accidents and commercial fishing is the first among them. Jensen et al. (2014) stated that the in United States, commercial fishing is one of the dangerous jobs. Over the half cases of issues during the commercial fishing are due to “vessel disaster,” such as crashing, sinking and a fire. The main reasons for the occurrence of such accidents are dangerous weather, slippery surfaces and improper maintenance of the vessels. In many a times, Crain accidents in the ocean surfaces occurred due to poor maintenance and lack of training and supervision. In case of oil and gas offshore operations, malfunctioning equipments, loose cables and fire occurred while aboard jack-up rigs. Hanninen (2014) also highlighted the issue of proper handling the cargo ships in which improper distribution of the weight is a common problem. It is also said that the due to this improper weight distribution, the problem of capsizing and shrinking occurs. Oil platform is another reason that enhances the probability of the marine accidents. Ugurlu et al. (2015) portrays that since, in the oil and gas industry, workers handle flammable products; thus, improper maintenance and handling of such products resulting in explosions. Additionally, hot work accidents are the major source of the occurrence of the explosions. Stratmann and Boll (2016) stated that the hot work accidents include welding, brazing and burning. Dogarawa (2012) furthermore depicted that the workers has to accomplish these kind of task like welding inside hollow or enclosed structures that increases the changes of marine accidents.

Pollution caused by ships

Tirunagari et al. (2012) stated that the large volume of the cargo is the main reason that transportation of material through waterways has become a trend. However, there are some aspects through which the marine pollution can be occurred. One of the major incidents is transportation of oil in cargo. Doerffer (2013) highlight that there are two ways through which the oil materials can create marine pollution- first is due to normal navigation and the second is due to oil spillage. In case of normal navigation- oil tanker ballast water, cabin bilge water and washing water are the main source that contaminated the water surface of the water body (Allo and Loureiro 2013). On the other hand, oil spillage occurred when oil from the tankers spilled on the water surface due to cargo accidents and tanker leakage. Moreover, the ships also transport liquid toxic materials which on mixing with the water of the ocean affect the marine water life. This creates the water pollution which is difficult to remove.

The engine to run the ship is of great power and need more energy fuel. However, the sound that generate from the engine operations is high resulting in sound pollution. Kuiper and Van den Brink (2012) stated that noise travels much easier in water and hence the impact of the noise from the ships is high on the marine animals. Loughlin (2013) also stated that marine animals are much more sensitive to the sound as they need to fulfill their basic life functions like identification of predators a searching for food. Thus, on not adopting any preventive measures for diminishing the noise pollution, underwater noise pollution could disrupt marine life. Schwacke et al. (2013) highlight that the low frequency sonar sounds, which is used for submarine detection, seismic air gun noise for the exploration process of presence of oil and gas and sound obtained from coastal jet ski traffic and commercial shipping traffic. The impact of the sound pollution results in decreasing number of dolphins and whales.  

Moreover, in the year 2005, seas surrounding Europe faced severe air pollution from sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions. It is also found that from international shipping, 1.7 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emitted a year along with 2.8 million tonnes of nitrogen dioxide (NOx) emissions and 195,000 tonnes of particulate matter (PM 2.5) (Transport Environment 2018). The adverse impact of the impact of the poisonous gas on the human health is pre mature death of the human which costs around €58 billion in Europe (Transport Environment 2018). Scientists also reported that the mixture of the sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NOx) leads to the formulation of the sulphate and nitrate aerosols (Transport Environment 2018). Moreover, the black carbon emitted by the ships is the source of shipping problems and creates air pollution. All these particles are carcinogenic in nature and cause heart and lung failures. International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the other hand has taken the target of saving 26,000 lives a year from 2020 (Transport Environment 2018).

Pollution caused by oil

Oil spill cases ecological hazards which are occurred due to coverage of the oil film over the sea as it blocks the oxygen levels and hampers the process of sea air exchange (De et al. 2013). Dogarawa (2012) also shows that since oil hinder the sun into the ocean, the temperature of the water under the water drops resulting in disturbance in oxygen and carbon dioxide balance. This process also hampers the objective conditions of photosynthesis. Dispersed and emulsified oil invades the marine plants which resulted in destruction in the chlorophyll process. The impact of this destruction is blockage of normal division of cells and respiratory track which furthermore leads to another adversity that is destroying the main body of photosynthesis. This procedure results in the poor ecological maintenance under the water surface leads in death of the marine animals and pollution due to debris. The oil explosion that is occurred due to leakage on the oil vessel also leads to the air pollution. Hanninen (2014) stated that this air pollution also impacts on the quality of the air for the local people and increasing the calamity of the global warming and climate change.

Oil Spills 

Considering the definition, Xing et al. (2015) stated that the process of escaping of oil into the water body is known as oil spill. Abimbola, Khan and Khakzad (2014) also depicted that in oil spill, not only the oil but the byproducts of the petroleum into the environment especially the water body surface. There are several reasons due to which the adversity of the oil spill occurs and one of the reasons is carelessness (Middleditch 2012). Errors made by people while handling the oil and gas equipments leads to oil leakage. One of such incidents is Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in the years 1989 (Loughlin 2013). The accidents that can arise from the human error are gulf oil rig blowout. Liu and Zhu (2014) furthermore depicted that breakdown of the equipments led to a number of oil spills. Natural disasters are one of the major reasons for the oil spills and this kind of disaster cannot be controlled. Pipelines and oil tanker ships used for the transportation of the petroleum gets affected in heavy storms in the oceans and hurricanes. Doerffer (2013) also stated that heavy storms in the oceans floor which causes colossal oil spills. One such example was La Coruña oil spill occurred in the year 1992 where the ship broken down into two parts resulting in the spillage of 74,000 metric tons of crude oil (Wardley-Smith 2012).

The major effect of the oil spill can be witnessed from the condition of the seabirds. Xing et al. (2015) highlight that the birds gets covered in the oil that is floated on the water surface which results in incapability in flying. In such scenario, the major impact is the death of the birds. The oil spill also affects the food chain as during the spills, small organism like plankton and larval fish gets affected which is fed by larger sea animals (Abimbola, Khan and Khakzad (2014). Oil spills also blocks the cycle of sunlight and oxygen under the water resulting in poor functioning of the plants which furthermore affects the cleaning of the water body under the sea.

Existing international maritime laws and regulations and its benefits

SOLAS 74 for Safety of Life at Sea

Skora and Wolski (2016) stated that the fire and explosions are main risks of ship operations and International Maritime Organization (IMO) has taken many initiatives for prevention and mitigation of these risks. SOLAS Convention is one of the frameworks that cover the safety life of the safety life in marine environment. SOLAS I/ 21, articles 8 and 12 from MARPOL, it is a rule that the administration of the marine department are liable to report all the activities regarding the sips under their flags. Akyuz and Celik (2014) also highlight that under this convention the activities of construction, equipment and operation of the merchant ships is mainly considered. This convention come into the force in the year 1980 and currently has 162 contracting states and also flags 99% of the merchant ships all over the world. This convention has several chapters segregating the safety standard of the merchant ships. The first chapter of the SOLAS 74 is the ‘general provision’ for certifying that all the merchant ships under the flag meet the requirements of the convention. The second chapter comprised of the details of the stability, machinery and electrical installations and fire protection, fire detection and fire extinction of all the ships. The third chapter highlights the life-saving appliances and arrangements like requirements for life jackets, life boats and recues boats according to type of ship.

The fourth chapter of the considered convention emphasized on the communication tools so that news of any adversity can be informed without any delay (Kara, Kacmaz and Oksas 2016). In this case, the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), which is an internationally agreed-upon safety concerns for the ships and includes safety procedures, types of equipment and the communication protocols so that the security of the ships can be ensured. The fifth chapter of the SOLAS 74 highlights the safety of navigation which allows the marine operations facility management to detect the sign of adversity prior hands. The stowage and securing different types of cargos is considered under the provision of chapter six. Hermida-Castro et al. (2013) however argued that this chapter though not involves the cargo containers filled with liquid and gases in larger amount. Akaso (2012) on the other hand present a counter statement that the seventh chapter of the SOLAS 74 considers the carriage of dangerous goods in compliance with International Bulk Chemical Code (IBC Code).

The eighth and the ninth chapter of the considered convention focus on the radiation hazards from the nuclear ships and management for the safe operation of ships respectively. The safe operation of the ships also represents International Safety Management (ISM) Code of International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (Kristiansen 2013). According to the ISM Code, the quality and the condition of the ship is audited, the Document of Compliance (DOC) is issued with the validity of 5 years (Akaso 2012.). After the ships get a Document of Compliance (DOC), each vessel of the ships should also be audited in compliance with ISM Code and this case a Safety Management Certificate (SMS) will be issued and is given to the company between second and third years of certificate validity. The safety of the high speed craft is covered under the chapter ten. The eleventh chapter of the same convention highlights the special measures to enhance maritime safety and maritime security. The last chapter of the SOLAS 74 is additional safety measures for bulk carriers which is over 150 meters in length. The thirteenth and fourteen chapters of the same are added recently and is based on the verification of compliance and safety measures for ships operating in polar waters (Bhattacharya 2012).

OILPOL 54 Treaty for addressing the oil pollution at sea

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL) is a treaty that was subsumed by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) (Anyanova 2012). OILPOL Treaty signed in London in the year 1954 but subsumed by the MARPOL in 1973 (Lagring, et al. 2012). The main focus area of this treaty is that most of the cases of the oil pollution in the occurred due to cleaning of the cargo tanks. Rothwell and Stephens (2016) stated that the during the washing of the oil cargos, the tanks are washed with the water and the mixture of oil and water is pumped in the ocean.

One of the main concerns that are mentioned in this treaty is that the oily waste materials should be dumped at a specific area from the land so that no human can gets affected. In addition to that in this convention some of the ships are not included that is used for longer times in the naval auxiliaries, ships used for the whaling industry and under 500 tons gross tonnage (Szepes 2013). Crime (2017) argued that this convention only focused on the ocean pollution that is occurred due to oil tankers. Moreover, de Oliveira (2015) furthermore depicted that there are also many areas that OILPOL does not considered like the discharge of the oil cannot be considered punishable if the discharge of the oil made for securing the safety of the ship and saving life at the sea. The discharge of the sediments is also not included in the cases, where the same is cannot be pumped back into the cargo tanks and residue after the oil purification process.

MARPOL 73/78 for marine pollution from ships

MARPOL 73/78 is a marine environmental convention internationally accepted and is taken for diminishing the pollution of the oceans and seas (Rothwell and Stephens 2016). Kristiansen (2013) stated that this convention also includes oil and air pollution along with dumping of waste products in the ocean. MARPOL convention has many annexes in which the first annex deals with the engine room waste. The second annex of this convention highlights the cleaning of the cargo and oil tanks. MARPOL in this case, also mentioned about oil discharge monitoring equipment to monitor the measurement of oil content in the slop in conformance with regulations. The third annex measures the standards of the packing, labeling, marking along with documentation, stowage, quantity subtraction and notifications for preventing pollution (Babatunde and Akpambang 2017). Annex IV of this MARPOL convention focuses more on the pollution controlling requirements through sewage from ships. Anne V is also mainly focused on the “Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships” and specifies the distance of the land from the disposure of the waste products. Lastly, the sixth annex introduces the regulation for controlling the air pollution including the ozone depleting substances emission.  

MARPOL suggests several methods for reducing pollution associated with operational discharges and want to follow those requirements for reducing the marine pollution- crude oil washings, load on top and segregated ballast tanks.

Crude oil washings

In this case, according to the MARPOL convention mentioned the technique of cleaning off the walls of the cargo in place of water. Bhattacharya (2012) stated that the use of oil is suggested as the crude oil has a good dissolving power and reduces residues and sludge. In addition to that, one advantage is that the use of water can be reduced. Akaso (2012) on the other hand argued that the mixture of the cleaning oil with the crude oil is highly poisonous.

Load on top

Amiri and Rasheed (2012) stated that the crude oil contains of wax and other materials which if stayed for longer time formulates a residue. The formulation of this residue occurs more during the voyage and remained in the cargo even after the discharging of oiet al. (2012) also stated that these residues when discharged into the sea remained on the surface of the sea for longer time which causes the marine pollution. According to the MARPOL 73/78 convention, operational waters are settled during the time of the voyage back to the loading port (Bhattacharya 2012). During the standing time, the mixture of the oil and water separated and the oil gradually comes on the top of the water surface which makes the heavier water to sink at the bottom of the vessel. Skóra and Wolski (2016) also mentioned that the layer of the heavy water surface is drawn leaving the concentrated oily surface that is transferred to the slop tank. Akaso (2012) on the other hand stated that the major disadvantage of this technique is that this procedure required skilled employees to accomplish the process in a correct way. On the other hand, Babatunde and Akpambang (2017) also presents a statement in negation that the accomplishment of the entire procedure need more time and hence cannot be applicable in case of short coastal voyages.

Segregated ballast tanks (SBT)

The Segregated ballast tanks (SBT) is used only for carrying the ballast and this is free from the pollution in marine surfaces that caused from the oil like things. Christodoulou-Varotsi (2018) also stated that the only problem that is associated with the SBT is that when the ship need to carry the more ballast more than its capability. The SBT can be substitute with that of the CBT also known as Clean Ballast Tanks and is used for carrying ballast water only. However, according to the MARPOL 73/78 convention, principle CBTs can only be effective as SBTs if these tanks will be kept clean from oil.  

Civil Liability Convention (CLC) for addressing Oil Pollution Damage

The international compensation regime is applied for the accidents that causes by oil pollution and is set up by 1969 Civil Liability Convention and 1971 Fund Convention and come into force in the year 1975 (Iopcfunds 2018). This compensation convention is amended in the year 1992. According to the International Maritime Organization, the Civil Liability Convention (CLC) is used to ensure that people getting affected from oil pollution damage get proper compensation. These accidents should only have to cause by maritime casualties involving oil-carrying ships (International Maritime Organization 2018). It is also mentioned that, the compensation can only be attained if the ships has been insured. According to this convention, all seagoing vessels carrying oil in bulk are applicable but the tankers that carry 2,000 tons of oil have to maintain insurance for oil pollution damage (International Maritime Organization 2018). The oil damage aspect that is highlighted in this case is from oil spills. This convention does not cover the warships or a ship that is owned or operated by a State and used for Government non-commercial service. Schoenbaum (2012) also highlight one drawback that oil spill from laden tankers and cargos are covered but bunker spills from ships are not covered. Later in this convention, some limitation has been added further. Ships that does not exceeds 5,000 gross tonnage, 3 million SDR has been provided to them, ships that exceeds 5,000 gross tonnage but limited to 140,000 gross tonnage, 3 million SDR plus 420 SDR per unit of tonnage liability has been provided (International Maritime Organization 2018). Lastly, for the ship contains more than 140,000 gross tonnage can get the liability up to 59.7 million SDR (International Maritime Organization 2018).  

It is also found that under the 1969 CLC, the ship owner’s liability limitations are lower than the 1992 CLC (International Maritime Organization 2018). It is also found that the maximum compensation that the ship owners can get under the 1969 convention is maximum to 14 million SDR but amount of compensation payable by the 1971 Fund for each incident under the amended convention is was 60 million SDR (International Maritime Organization 2018). One of the greatest limitation to this compensation convention is that there is no liability for the pollution damage if the owner of the ship proves that the damage that occurred is due to the an act of war, insurrection, civil war, hostilities or an inevitable and irresistible natural phenomenon. The liability will also not occur if the cause of the damage is due to a third party (International Maritime Organization 2018). It is also mentioned in this convention that the negligence and wrongful act of Government or authority in maintenance of the light and other navigational aids is also not allowed for liability for the oil pollution.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a regulation that covers all forms of marine pollution. This convention is proposed in the year 1982 and comes into force in the year 1994. However, Hong (2012) depict that this regulation does not consider only the oil pollution but additional topics like safety of the ships, economic activity and dispute resolution. The framework that is proposed through this legislation is to conserve and manage the marine resources and play the role of an umbrella organization for respecting the similar goals. This regulation also includes land-based and atmospheric sources of pollution and also emphasized on endangered species.  

Gaps in international maritime laws and regulations

OILPOL

Oyende (2013) depicted that OILPOL is lacking sufficient enforcement controls for ports and coastal states. Durak et al. (2016) provide the statement with the fact that first an investigation is occurred in order to find any adversity in the marine operation and on finding the evidences the managing body will take the decisions. Thus, in this case, since there are no advanced equipments to monitor the oily discharge in the coastal and port states, OILPOL is not effective in this case. Thus there is lack of reliable monitoring equipment and surveillance capability.  

MARPOL 73/78

Szepes (2013) stated that MARPOL 73/78 is a hybrid of international, environmental and maritime law. Moreover, the states with greater economic condition are benefitted by this convention. Narayanasamy et al. (2018) highlight that according to the equipment requirements of the MARPOL is majorly focused on construction of new vessels and the replacement of the older ship vessels. This treaty also emphasized more on the effective compliance by ship owners rather than of using on discharge standards. In this case, since the port states have sufficient incentives and financial resources, these states are able to enforce the equipment standards.  

CLC 69

Application of the CLC 1969 with 1992 protocol only limited to the oil combined tankers for oil spills. Thus, the oil spill occurred due to ships and bunkers also spilled from ships but are not from bulk oil carriers. Thus, pollution occurred from these sources are not included both in the 1969 and 1992 CLC. It is also the highlighted that the convection does not contain any definition of cargo and thus confusion whether or not the goods transported from one port to the other are only considered.

UNCLOS

The drawback of UNCLOS is that it is very broad in nature and the authorization demand over foreign flagged vessels is new to the system. Arbitration (2015) also depicted that UNCLOS has lack of universal acceptance but considered as an important step in the correct direction for the protection of the environment. Blummental and Mazza (2012) also highlight another drawback that this convention is expensive in nature due to its international co-operation and standards for shipping resulting in getting less preference from the ship owners. Arbitration (2015) on the other hand argued that UNCLOS is a good and effective option of the ship safety, labor conditions and protection of the environment. 

Research Methodology 

Introduction

The research is conducted for analyzing an issue in order to find some relevant solution on a specific problem (Novikov and Novikov 2013). Mary Converse RN (2012) also stated that there in research methodology section, different research methods for obtaining the research objectives are discussed and justification for the relevance of the chosen method is also provided. In major researches, the research methodology is utilized to answer the unanswered questions based on the research topic or explore a new direction on the same (Coleman 2013). Moreover, this chapter also highlighted the suitable method for the chosen problem, order of accuracy of the result and efficiency of the method. However, for this research study, this chapter comprised of research philosophy, research approach and research design along with their justification. The data collection process and the analysis techniques are also discussed in this chapter followed by the description of sampling technique and sample size. The research ethics, research limitations and timeframe is also highlighted in the research.

Research Philosophy

Håkansson (2013) stated that research philosophy utilization is mainly for understanding the nature and development of knowledge that provide the in-depth information based on the research study. These data from the research is helpful in formulating the beliefs and assumptions that helps in addressing the research objectives. There are three type of research philosophies- positivism, interpretivism and realism. Positivism research philosophy is used when a well structured research is planned to be formulated and a huge number of research respondents are considered. Interpretivism research philosophy is used when small research respondents are selected or the research is based on social belief on the research topic. Lastly, the realism philosophy is the combination of positivism and interpretivism philosophies

Justification for selected research philosophy

In this research, interpretivism research philosophy is used as only those sample research papers and database are considered that is based on the marine accidents, environmental pollution and oil spills in the Mediterranean Region. Since, the research on the findings of the published data, interpretivism research philosophy is suitable for this study.

Research Approach

van Wyk (2012) stated that the relevance of the formulated hypothesis and assumptions is obtained through the research approach. In order to prove the relevance of the assumption there are two different ways- deductive and inductive approach. In deductive approach, the validity of the hypothesis or the assumptions is conducted based on the findings of the research made in the literature review and data analysis (Tracy 2012). However, in inductive approach, emergence of new theories and generalizations is considered based on the findings of the data collection.

In this research study, deductive research approach is followed.

Justification for chosen research approach

The deductive research approach is chosen as this research does not aim for the development of any new theories. The prime aim of this research is to find the reason for the cause of marine accidents and the possible impact that can be raised due to marine calamities. Since, the main objectives are to find the research conducted, deductive approach is reliable for this research.  

Research purpose

The main idea behind the utilization of the research purpose is to select a process through which the research questions can be answered and there are two different ways through which the research questions can be answered- descriptive and exploratory. Collis and Hussey (2013) also stated that descriptive purpose is to describe the research questions based on the findings from the data collection and analysis; on the other hand, the exploratory purpose is to find a new direction that is based on the similar research topic. In this research, descriptive research purpose is utilized.

Justification for selected research purpose

The main idea behind choosing the descriptive research purpose is that the selected research articles and the database from authentic websites allowed the research to answer all the research questions formulated for this study.  

Data collection process

Smith (2015) stated that the process of gathering appropriate information representing the research issue is known as data collection process. The importance of the data collection is that the data gathered from the research questionnaire or other method to answer the stated research questions and testing the hypothesis. Neuman (2013) also highlight that there are two different categories of the data collection process- primary and secondary data collection process. The research respondents are directly targeted for collecting data primarily and are gathered through survey, questionnaire, interview and telephonic conversation. On the other hand, the secondary data collection process refers to the situation when secondary sources like newspaper excerpts, peer reviewed articles and statistical data from authentic websites like government sites and company’s WebPages are selected.

In this research study, secondary data collection process is utilized so that the exact reason for the most common causes of maritime accidents occurrences along with the impacts rose due to marine calamities. The secondary research is selected as the people working in the extraction and other process are not well educated and they cannot well represent the cause and impact of the marine calamities. The secondary research also allows formulating some suggestions concerning international maritime laws and regulations based on the found evidence from the literature review and data findings.

Data Analysis techniques

An applied research can be of two types, first is quantitative method and second is qualitative method. Punch (2013) stated that quantitative research analysis method is taken into consideration when the research is based on measurement of an amount and quantity. The outcome of the quantitative research analysis technique is also in numbers or set of numbers. This type of analysis is an iterative process and the result of such data analysis can be presented in table, graphs and charts. On the other hand, when the quality of the research subject is considered, qualitative research is opted. Zikmund et al. (2013) stated that this kind of research is used when the data will be considered when the data will be analyzed theoretically. The major characteristics of qualitative research are it is non-numerical and descriptive in nature.

In this research, only the secondary research is utilized as it comprised of well formulated data based on the marine accident and its environmental impact. Moreover, the government sites also published the related data of all the years which helps in comparing the progress in the field of oil and gas accidents. Some of the data used for collecting the data for this research study is “Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre (REMPEC)”, government sites like https://dergipark.gov.tr/ and different research papers that is based on the similar topics.

Sampling Technique 

The sampling technique is utilized for selecting the sample size for the research and this technique is of two different ways- probability and non-probability sampling technique. Levy and Lemeshow (2013) portrays that in probability sampling technique in which all the research respondents are provided with equal opportunity to share their perception on the research topic. On the other hand, the non-probability sampling technique the research respondents and research materials are selected based on some biasness and not all of them are given equal opportunity to participate in the research study.

In this research study, non-probability sampling technique is utilized as all the database, website logs and research papers are based on the Mediterranean Region which describes the situation of causes of maritime accidents occurrences and impacts due to marine calamities. Since, not all research papers on the marine accidents and region are selected in this research study, the non-probability sampling technique is appropriate.

Ethical consideration

Research ethics is important to follow in every research and in this research all the research articles considered are published within the 10 years so that no outdated data can be utilized for this research study. All the research scholars are properly addressed and credited through proper citations in the content of the research. Since, no questionnaire is used, thus, this research is free from all the personal opinion by third parties.   

Research limitation

The research limitation in this case is that this research is based only on the secondary research and thus lacks the current perception of the Mediterranean Region. Moreover, this research includes all the data for the oil pollution and environmental impact.

Research Timeframe

Table 1: Timeframe of the research

(Source: Created by Author)

Project Plan Abbreviation Explanation:

Literature DC = Literature Review Data Collection

Literature DA = literature Review Data Analysis

Research Eth= Research Ethics Form development and Approval

Writing Review= Dissertation review and final writing improvement

Data collection and Analysis 

Research Findings 

In the year 1998, the report of Arab Academy for Science and Technology depicted that the main reason they aimed for analyzing the surface samples of the Mediterranean Region for three main objectives- hydrocarbon pollution, heavy metal pollution and radioactive pollution (Chauvin et al. 2013). The research done by them also shows that the level of oil is present in higher amount than mentioned in governing legislations. It is also found that this oil level is higher in the anchorage area and port areas. Mediterranean Region comprised of places like Spain, France, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey, Monaco and Italy (Tirunagari et al. 2012). The eastern shore of the Mediterranean Region comprised of Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. In addition to that, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Algeria are in the Southern shore and only Malta and Cyprus are the two island nation of the Mediterranean Region (Hanninen 2014). Majority of these places present in the border of the Mediterranean Sea and thus, the transportation and business activities are accomplished through sea ports and ocean. In this section, the discussion of the main causes of oil pollution along with the consequences of maritime accidents in Mediterranean Region is highlighted. In addition to that, connection of the Mediterranean Region and international maritime trade will also be discussed. Case studies of maritime accidents during the period 1977-2013 took place in Mediterranean is also evaluated followed by the social responsibility of the business company in environment. Lastly, the existing legislative framework is examined in order to find any gaps so that proper recommendations can be suggested for better outcome.

Case studies of maritime accidents during the period 1977-2013 took place in Mediterranean 

MT Haven – Shipwreck- 1991

MT Haven also known as Amoco Milford Haven was a very large crude carrier (VLCC). In the year 1991, the crude carrier was loaded with 144,000 tonnes which is equivalent to 1 million barrels of the crude oil (Madrid et al. 2015). As a result the ship was exploded and then the carrier caught fire resulting sinking of MT Haven off the coast of Genoa, Italy (Masetti and Calder 2014). The adversity that the marine environment has to face is that 50 million gallons of crude oil spilled in the Mediterranean Sea. The crude carrier burnt contiguously for three days and then broke into two parts. The sea was polluted then but the impact of this incident was witnessed even after 12 years of the incident. This accident is considered the largest spill in Mediterranean Sea that killed 6 people and the family members of the victims did not received relief. In addition to that, millions of people living and working in the region gets affected from the pollution occurred from the accident. Oil that was spilled covered the beach, make the water and air polluted and the wildlife also get covered from the oil that was stuck on the surface of the ocean.

It is also found that the ship aimed to unload 230,000 tonnes of the crude oil at a platform but after unloading 80.000 tonnes, the unloading procedure night become wrong. The cause of the spill was found to be the Iran-Iraq war, the concerned ship was struck by an Exocet missile in the year 1987. The ship though repaired in Singapore and believed to be fit and eligible for oil transportation; however, after the accidents the owner of the ships were blamed for putting the wrecked ships in operation. The allegation was also in terms of failure to perform regular maintenance.

IRENES SERENADE is a cruise ship that was loaded with 102,600 tonnes of Iraqi crude oil. In the year 1980, at the bunkering location, the vessel exploded in the forecastle resulting in the fire and was continued to 14 hours (Schmidt-Etkin 2011). Additionally, half mile long spread vessel leads to the leakage of oil up to 2 miles and the fire sank off Pylos Harbour which is present close to the Sfakteria Island. It is also found that hundreds of tonnes of oil spilled and the adversity has more significant effect as the spilled oil was the residue of the oil after the fire. The escape path of the oil was the bunkers emanating from the engine room section. The estimated amount of oil was 1000 tonnes in total (Rogowska and Namie?nik 2010).

Due to the oil spill the rocky shorelines became pockets of oil-in-water emulsion and the sand and pebbles in the beach also become oily. Experts also reported that the seaweeds also covered with oil affecting the underwater animals.  The accident occurred also resulted in contamination of water to the diameter of 100km (Alexopoulos and Konstantopoulos 2010).

Lebanon Republic is a sovereign state in Western Asia and present at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin (Neves et al. 2015). The worst environmental crisis in Lebanon’s history is the oil spill in 2006. In this situation, on the beaches of Lebanon, there were dead fishes on the beaches and thick layer of oil on the sand and the color of the water of the sea changes from blue to black. The major reason for this situation is the oil spill from the Jiyyeh power plant (Bulgarelli and Djavidnia 2012). The Jiyyeh power plant is located in the 30Km south of the Lebanese capital (Pan, Tang and Zhang 2012). The oil spill occurred during the Israel-Lebanon conflict in which due to bomb between July 13^th to15^th, 15,000 tons of oil was spilled into the sea. The oil spill polluted the water body off of Syria and it was estimated by the regional governing bodies that the oil may reach to Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece (Alves et al. 2015).

The adverse effect that had occurred in this case is suffering of the marine animals like fishes and turtles. Human were also in risk as the oil spill potentially increased the risk of cancer. Goldman et al. (2015) highlighted that not only the oil spill that has caused marine pollution but also a significant proportion of oil burnt leading to severe air pollution. According to The World Conservation Union reports, cedar trees of Al-Shouf Reserve were also affected due to this spill. After this incident, a resolution was passed by the UN General Assembly to pay Israel a compensation of $850 million for war with Hezbollah (BBC 2014). The effect of this oil spill is that it affected one-third of Lebanon's coastlines and the rocks of the beaches and other parts covered by oil sludge through north of Beirut and Byblos (BBC 2014).

Satellite monitoring of the oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea

The satellite monitoring resulted in detection of 1640 oil spill in the year 2001 in Mediterranean Sea. The SAR images from the European Commission found the result from 2900 SAR images. 

Another research also shows that the density of the oil spill in not even throughout the considered sea. The oil spill density is illustrated trough SAR images based on the width of the oil spill and total number of images that is available satellite image. In this images the darker region refers to the denser region; while, the lighter shades represents less denser regions. 

The adversity of the oil spill is also based on the length and width of the oil spill. In between the years 1999- 2001, most of the oil spill was occurred having the spill length of 5 to 10 km followed by 10 to 15 km length oil spill. In addition to that, the maximum width of the oil spill occurred in the Mediterranean Sea was lesser than 1 km followed by spills that is greater than 1 but restricted to 2 kms. The maximum number of oil spill area in the considered region lies between 1- 5 km² followed by 5- 10 km² and 15- 20 km² (European Space Agency 2008). 

However, when 5517 SAR satellite images are analyzed, it is found that there were 2544 possible oil spill detected in the Mediterranean Sea.  

 The report published by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) illustrates that the risk of oil spill is due to coastal zone development, agricultural and industrial run-offs, chronic pollution and illegal discharges at sea The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited 2003). In some of the cases, eutrophication, urbanization, introduction of foreign species and red tides are the reason due to which the oil spill occurs at the Mediterranean Sea.

Furthermore, when the number of oil spill is considered, it has been found that in the year 1991 and 2000 there are maximum number of oil spill occurred in the Mediterranean Sea  followed by the year 1992 and 1993 (The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited 2003). 

It has been noted that number of accidents which creates oil spill reduced from 56% of the total number of accident to 47% from 1977- 1993 to 1994- 2010 (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). The main reason for the reduced number of oil spill incidents is due to the better compliance by the contracting parties. (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018) also mentioned that since the regulation has been imposed that the contracting parties should report to REMPEC about those oil spill incidents that are excess of 100 cubic meters (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018).

In case of the places, where more than 100 tonnes of the oil has been released, it has been found that 18% of the oil spill cases has been seen in Italy, 30% in Greece, 14% in Spain, 8% in Egypt, 6% each in Algeria, Israel and Lebanon (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). 

Main causes of oil pollution as well as the consequences of maritime accidents in Mediterranean Region

The main causes of the marine accidents occur due to many reasons like collision, grounding, fire and explosion, sinking, cargo transfer failure and others. It is also found from the REMPEC database that the most significant reason for the marine vessel accident is due to fire and explosion and grounding during the 1977- 1984 period of time (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). The cargo transfer failure is also an added reason for the marine vessel accidents in the time period 1985-1991 (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). Moreover, the number if marine accidents due to larger vessel occurred due to other reason than sinking, fire and explosions, grounding and collisions during the time1991- 1997 and recent time of 2004- 2010 (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). 

The research from Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) also shows that types of vessels that are involved in the marine accidents are the oil tankers. 70% of the total accident in 1977- 1984 is due to the oil tankers; however, the percentage of the accidents due to the same vessel reduces to 23% by the year 2004- 2010 (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). On the other hand, it is also found that the marine accidents due to cargo has been increased from 17% to 30% for the year 1977- 1984 and 2004- 2010 (The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre 2018). 

Gas Discovery

Goldman et al. (2014) stated that the gas discovery in the Mediterranean Region is not only became an event of economic interest but it also enhances the risk of greater oil spills and environmental risk. In the year 2010, one catastrophic incident of deepwater horizon oil and gas disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. The reason for the occurrence of such incident was oil and gas exploration. During the year 2009-2010, in Israeli EEZ, large gas field has been discovered which enhances the gas and oil exploration activities. In this case, the challenge that Israel had to face is the taking decision in regards to the conservation efforts, marine safety, and environmental protection (Mileski, Wang and Beacham IV 2014). The study shows that the south eastern Mediterranean has 6 synoptic systems- Cyprus lows, Persian trough, Red Sea trough, Sharav lows, Siberian high and Subtropical high. Doerffer (2013) on the other hand stated that south-eastern Mediterranean Sea is a cyclonic area and the current is persistent all over the year. However, this cyclonic area resulting in greater risk of the oil spills. The study of this research also found that the risk of the oil spill in the Israel’s Mediterranean Sea region is mostly in the pipelines, gas wells, shipping routes and single buoy moorings (Levin et al. 2015). There are also some ocean models which are used to measure the probability of the oil spill due to the condition of the ocean. These tree models are- SKIRON, SELIPS and MEDSLIK. The Atmospheric Modeling and Weather Forecasting Group developed the SKIRON model for obtaining daily atmospheric forecast with temporal resolution and horizontal spatial resolution (Levin et al. 2015). The SKIRON model estimated that the non-summer quadrants are biased towards severe weather. On the other hand, South Eastern Levantine Israeli Prediction System (SELIPS) another Oceanic model use for forecasting the temperature, salinity and sea currents in the Levantine basin (Levin et al. 2015). Lastly, the MEDSLIK investigate the oil slicks using a 3D Monte Carlo process through the calculation of the hundreds of small oil parcels for each of the oil slicks. This tool is also use for integrating Mediterranean Decision Support System and help in investigating the actual reason in case oil spill event. Thus, the discovery of oil and gas reservoirs results in marine accidents due to the poor weather conditions.

Examining connection of the Mediterranean Region and international maritime trade 

The Mediterranean is considered as a world trade route due to the reason that a third of world passes through the sea for trading purpose. The common path that is used for transporting the oil from one place to the other is through the mouth of the Suez Canal to the Straits of Gibraltar and sometimes the later is replaced by Bosporus to the Black Sea.  Ducruet and Notteboom (2012) also stated that the Mediterranean region is also a crossroad of different continents like- Africa, Asia and Europe. Another reason that the Mediterranean Sea is considered as a world trade route as the sea is a landlocked sea and the surrounding coastal countries also have the opportunities in developing their trade. Mediterranean countries have an active maritime trade route with rest of the nations all over the world. However, the trade that is mostly considered is trade between that of the EU with nations of Middle East and Asia via the Mediterranean Sea. The data represent that; trade of approximately 210 million tonnes was obtained between EU member states and Asia (Cullinane and Bergqvist 2014). The traffic in the concerned sea port is highly imbalanced and among this traffic, two third of the traffic is caused by European imports. It is also expected that the traffic can also further increase because the East Asian Countries are continuously evolving.

In addition to that, South Mediterranean Countries have also improved their business trades and on comparison to the rest of the world other than Europe, the quantity of trade is 280 million tonnes (European Institute of the Mediterranean. Anna Lindh Foundation 2009). The traffic that is caused from South Mediterranean Countries trade largely comprised of bulk cargo that carries oil total of 200 million tonnes (European Institute of the Mediterranean. Anna Lindh Foundation 2009). The report also shows that materials other than bulk materials especially oil comprised of quantity of 80 million tonnes (European Institute of the Mediterranean. Anna Lindh Foundation 2009). The six different components of the Mediterranean Maritime and Terrestrial Traffic include intra- Mediterranean trades, Intra-EU trades, transit, national and coastal. In addition to that, the trade between EU countries and Mediterranean countries in case of non-bulk products amounts 106 million tonnes (European Institute of the Mediterranean. Anna Lindh Foundation 2009).  

The trend of international trade global GDP and transport by the means of container represents that from the year 1980 that international trade through the Mediterranean Sea has been increased resulting in the enhanced total trade through water ways and improved GDP by the year 2014 (Amato and Lanzau 2016).  The graph also represents that container sector compared to the world GDP and international trade is growing faster. 

In the 1970s, the growth of the business material transportations is carried out through cargo mode as the materials transported are in bulk. In this time some of the major ports that have been used for material transportation through containers are Trans-Atlantic routes, Trans-Pacific routes and some other ports (Amato and Lanzau 2016). Additionally, the liberalization and opening of markets plays a crucial role increase in international trade. In recent time, the most preferable containerized freight transport mode is to chose the carriers as it leads to cost saving. In addition to that the spread of containerized transport has been also increased due to the emergence in the maritime transport resulting in the maintenance and handling of the goods more efficient and widespread. As a result, not only the containerized transport has been increased but the traffic through the Suez Canal has also become greater than before. 

Social responsibility of the company in environment and analyzing existing legislative framework 

As emphasised by Akaso (2012), every organization has focus on maintaining effective social responsibilities for running the entire process of business. Especially, business organizations belonging to oil industry have to face innumerable environmental issues due to frequent marine accidents and oil spills. In this very specific part some of the most effective legislations have been critically analyzed by finding its scopes of improvement.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea otherwise named as Law of Sea Convention is the regulation that enables the nation in maintaining proper roles and responsibilities regarding the use of World’s ocean. Published in 1982, this particular treaty has implied that people of nation should show their concerned outlook while maintaining water transportation (Hong 2012). The concept of freedom of the seas prevailed a dominantly which enabled the water traveller in misusing water of ocean. Throwing garbage on the water, hydrocarbon exploration are the day to day incidents based on which the rate of marine pollution was increasing day by day. UNCLOS replaced the concept of freedom of the sea. In the very edge of 20^th century nations showed a desire of extending national claims, protecting mineral resources and saving fish, stocks and sea creature in order to maintain ecological balance. Klein (2014) the emergence of UNCLOS had been raised for fulfilling the purpose of protecting natural and environmental resources and nation would have to play the major responsibility. After the implementation of this law large number of amendments and rectifications are conducted in order to improve its major aspects. Still the regulation is not devoid of some of its major limitations or gap.

• Gap of UNCLOS:

After the emergence of this law employers belonging to oil industry had faced immense challenges in utilizing UNCLOS effectively due to some of major limitations. It is observed by Blummental and Mazza (2012) that marine science and transfer of technology is not well developed based on which sudden occurrences of marine accidents can be avoided. On the other hand, it has also been identified that lack of educational training and technical capacity of the management professionals is one of the most significant reasons based on which UNCLOS cannot be implemented and followed properly.

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL)

In 1954 the law of International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil is signed in London. This particular law is administrated and promoted by International maritime organizations. Stienen et al. (2017) stated that this particular law ensured that neither water nor the marine area should be polluted while maintaining transportation system. It is however observed that the incident of oil pollution is occurring for cleaning up cargo tanks Kirchner and Kleemola?Juntunen (2018). At the time of cleaning up the cargo tanks waste materials are mixed up with the water that automatically causes a serious harm of marine creature. However, after the implementation of this regulation International maritime organizations did not intend to wash cargo tanks on the ocean. Automatically, the scope of oil pollution gets decreased due to the prevention implemented within maritime organizations.

Stienen et al. (2017) it is observed that accidents occur on the ship due to the lack of discharging waste materials and oil. In this situation, the management professionals associated with marine industry tend to focus on discharging oil for saving life and ship. However, at this time the law of The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil cannot penalize the maritime industry for oil explosion on the sea in case of sudden occurrences.

Gap on OILPOL:

In terms of implementing this law the organizations belonging oil and maritime industry has to face innumerable challenges. Eze and Eze (2015) also depicted that in order to avoid the punishable offence for wasting oils and other materials the organization intends to show false incidents for pretending the fact that the professionals being compelled had to through oils and other materials on the sea. As a result, large number of organizations is there which have saved their professionals from being punished instead of having a strict consequence of denying OILPOL.

In addition, it has also been observed that management needs to have professional training and competency for avoiding oil pollution in marine. Kirchner and Kleemola?Juntunen (2018) In large number of developing countries the professionals are not very educated in realizing the importance of maintaining environmental balance in water. Automatically, these countries have to face challenges in following the regulation of International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil effectively.

Civil Liability Convention (CLC)

Civil Liability Convention adopted in 1969 was launched for the purpose of providing compensation to those persons who have to suffer in oil pollution damage which results from the maritime causalities within oil-carrying ships. It is often emphasized by Mandaraka-Sheppard (2014) that large number of professionals has to face serious damages due to marine accidents and oil spills. Sometimes, they have to sacrifice their life due to sudden marine explosion, collision and so on. However, the implementation of Civil Liability Convention enables that the affected person form these kinds of incidents would be benefited either financially and socially. As a result, the professionals would not feel insecure in being associated within maritime industry and oil industry. Frynas (2012) portrays that the law also implies that ships carrying 2,000 tons of oil are required following insurance for overcoming any kind of oil pollution damage.

• GAP inCivil Liability Convention:

This particular law is only applicable for oil spill and oil explosion. Professionals facing damages due to marine crafts may have to surrender death or other drastic consequences. However, this very specific regulation is very much restricted within oil pollution. As a result, large number of employees shows their reluctant attitude in being associated with the maritime industry due to the lack of security. Frynas (2012) thus highlighted that Civil Liability Convention could have been amended based on which professionals travelling on the ships can get financial security due to any kind of damages caused by marine accidents.

MARPOL is implemented in order to prohibit all the ships for discharging wastes at sea as they results in the pollution in the ocean. The types of ship that are present under this regulation are oil tankers, cruise ships, container vessels and general cargo. Olita et al. (2012) stated that the main aim of this convention is to reduce the quantity of the harmful materials in the ocean. In spite of a good motive, the regulation faces some drawbacks. The MARPOL 73/78 implements the provision to not to dispose the waste in the ocean in spite of the fact that certain waste can be disposed maintaining some criteria like distance from shore and type and condition of the waste (Musk 2012). The countries from other regions when desire to trade with MARPOL ratified countries, the vessel have to be well equipped to maintain the listed criteria. Another problem with the MARPOL convention is that all the countries having the intention to trade in the marine route need to meet the costs of providing port reception facilities and manages the waste and disposal approach that is friendly to the environment. In such cases, the problem will not arise, where wastes received in a small section compared to the adjacent municipality. Szepes (2013) thus highlight the problem in case of states that creates greater volume of oil wastes and there are no refineries that accept used oils. Thus it can be said that small community nations or developing countries as it is then difficult for the nation to manage the disposal of the oil waste in a eco-friendly manner. The problem continues with the funding aspects as according to the MARPOL convention, countries have to provide adequate reception facilities to all of their ports, anchorages and harbors. Olita et al. (2012) stated that the main reason for the occurrence of the problem is that a significant number of nations have foreign exchange difficulties that not only delay the process of maintaining all the facilities but also the financing port reception facilities are compromised due to lack of imported equipments, expertise and proper materials.

Analysis

Issues and proposed analysis to improve the current legislative framework

Recommendation on UNCLOS Convention 

The gap that is identified in this is that the convention only mentioned set of rules that all the trading nations have to implement. However, the problem occurred with all the nations that there is lack of research and development infrastructures on marine science. Moreover, it is difficult for the developing countries to invest financial resources on the development of such infrastructures. These aspects results in lesser knowledge of the marine development science. Thus, the problem of the lack of research and development infrastructures can be overcome by the involvement of the government to fund for the development of marine knowledge and conduct training programs so that more employees can be made aware of the marine science. This will help the employees to handle the marine equipment more proficiently and identify any problem in the initial stages. Thus, criteria for providing mandatory training should be included and criteria to rate the oil trading companies should also be included so that companies that follow the training guidelines can get more government preferences in terms of any support.

Recommendation on OILPOL Convention 

The gap that is identified in this convention is that the company often misuses the provision to discharge large number of oil waste if it seems to affect any employee on the ships or hampers organizational resources. OILPOL have the regulation that no company can discharge oil waste into the sea as it creates marine pollution but on case it affects employee’s lives or resources, the oil can be discharged into the ocean. Thus, the government needs to be strict in terms to identify the genuineness of the claim for discharging oil into the ocean. Proper documentation need to be submitted like quality of the equipments, existing condition of the equipments and qualification of the employees allowed in the journey. All these aspects provide satisfactory evidences to ensure the claims made by any oil trading company. Thus, including the criteria to present the documentation of the ships and ability of the employee might reduce the marine pollution.  

Recommendation on CLC Convention

According to this convention, the employees and the staffs associated with the ship journey will get financial benefits if the accidents will occur due to oil spill or oil discharge accidents. The reason, this regulation is implemented is to motivate the employees to attend the business travel for oil transportation. The gap that is identified is that the situation of internal equipments failures, natural calamities and other criteria are not considered for the insurance of the staffs. As a result, in spite of the fact that employee will get financial benefits if they get affected by oil related accidents. This problem can be overcome by the detailed provision of the rulebook that mention the details of the factors that will be considered under the insurance policy of CLC. The state government and the company need to formulate a partnership so as to prepare a mutual agreement based on which the provision of the insurance can be made transparent. The government also includes compensation based on other disaster aspects like sea animal attacks, natural calamities and internal failures. The government should also include some strict rules for the occurrence of the internal failures so that no company can show the cases of internal failure as a result of the oil spill or accidents related from the same.

Recommendation on MARPOL Convention 

The problem that is identified in case of the MARPOL convention is lack of oil refinery in the developing countries due to which the oil waste cannot be discharged and disposed in a procedure that is friendly to the environment. Thus, it is recommended to establish oil refinery in every nation that are associated with the oil trading system. This establishment of the oil refinery plant will remove the water from the oil mixture and then use the residue of the oil in an appropriate manner. In addition to that, violation of MARPOL can also be proved by measuring the quantity of oil waste discharge, which is impossible in case of small community nation due to lack of modern equipments. This process results in lack of proper evidences that hampers the marine environment. Thus, in terms of suggestions it can be said that new technology in lesser cost should have to be developed so that all the nations can get the privilege to diminish the oil waste and save marine environment.

Another problem that is highlighted is the funding problem due to which the developing countries faces problem to trade with the nation that follows the MARPOL convention. It is found that the cost involved to construct a reception facility in a nation starts at $500 million USD and for small community nation, bearing this cost is impossible (Szepes 2013). The survey conducted by Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to 993 ports and it was found that 104 ports do not have any receptions facilities. The adverse affect of this situation is that the flagged sates also denied to follow the MARPOL convention of limited discharge of oil waste as some of the port nation had not complied with the reception facility requirement (Szepes 2013). In such cases, the problem can be resolved by initiating a proactive communication from the two governing bodies so that the delay in the calculation and procedure to convert one currency to the other without any problem. This process will not only make the business process faster but two different nations can develop a great relationship among each other. 

Conclusion and recommendation

Conclusion 

The entire study has focused to provide in-depth overview on how oil Pollution and Maritime Accidents are causing serious harms on the Mediterranean Region. In quest of investing the most common causes of maritime accidents occurrences in Mediterranean Sea the study has evaluated that offshore oil rig mishaps is one of the most significant reasons due to which marine is getting polluted. The accidents of water transportation occur due to failure of the offshore oil and gas professionals and associates. The incident of fire explosion is mainly occurred while transporting oil and gas especially due to the flammable materials. These materials let the products catch fire easily due to leakage or sparks. However, these kinds of incidents become a serious cause of marine pollution. It has also been observed that fire explosion has become a serious issue based on which people belonging to various geographical boundaries of Mediterranean Region have to face immense challenges in leading an effective regular life.

This very specific research has also aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the international maritime laws and regulations and assess whether or not some amendments is required for the laws in order to provide more security to the marine environment.  While evaluating the various regulations it is observed that UNCLOS is needed to implement for saving the ocean from being misused. This specific regulation enabled the water traveller in misusing water of ocean. Throwing garbage on the water, hydrocarbon exploration are the day to day incidents based on which the rate of marine pollution was increasing day by day. OILPOL ensured that neither water nor the marine area should be polluted while maintaining transportation system. It is however observed that the incident of oil pollution is occurring for cleaning up cargo tanks. At the time of cleaning up the cargo tanks waste materials are mixed up with the water that automatically causes a serious harm of marine creature. Civil Liability Convention adopted in 1969 was launched for the purpose of providing compensation to those persons who have to suffer in oil pollution damage which results from the maritime causalities within oil-carrying ships.

Based on the major regulations the study has provided some of the major limitations due to which organizations belonging to maritime industry fail to implement effective maritime laws and regulations. While evaluating the damages caused by marine accidents it is observed that loss of water resources, loss of human life, loss of marine create as well as marine environment are the primary damages. Due to these kinds of damages most of the areas of Mediterranean Region have to face challenges in maintaining their ecological balance. By following appropriate methodological tools the study has used appropriate research philosophy, approach and design for conducting the entire process of research successfully. The study has chosen in selecting secondary source of data collection technique which the researcher has presented the data resources from various eminent scholars, website and news articles and so on. An effective and systematic thematic analysis is conducted for analysing data and information regarding the identified research issue.

Objective linking:

• Objective 1: To investigate the most common causes of maritime accidents occurrences in Mediterranean Sea

This particular objective is linked with the question number 2.1 from literature review. In this specific part the study has evaluated various causes of maritime accidents occurrences especially in Mediterranean Sea. Offshore oil rigs mishaps, fire and explosion, sinking are the primary causes of rendering marine accidents in the Mediterranean Sea.

• Objective 2: To identify the impacts due to marine calamities in Mediterranean Sea

This objective is linked with question number 2.2 from literature review. In this specific part, the study has mentioned that loss of resources, loss of human life, loss of marine environment are the necessary impact resulted for marine calamities.  

• Objective 3: To suggest improvements regarding international maritime laws and regulations

This objective is linked with question number 4.2 where an in-depth analysis is provided on how international maritime laws and regulations can be improved y following appropriate recommendations.

Recommendations

After evaluating the research issue from various point of views the study has provided some of the major recommendations which are as follows:

• The entire marine science and technology would have to be improved for overcoming fuel leakages and waste materials
• Professionals associated with maritime industry would have to be more educated and professionally trained to overcome any kind of marine damages and accidents
• Laws and regulations launched for overcoming marine calamities would have to be improved for practically saving the maritime industry from being affected
• Oil and Plastic Industries established in the coast of Mediterranean Region would have to be more conscious at the time of fuel leakages. The professionals would have to detect the leak and take a major action by implementing advanced technology based on which the marine can be saved from being polluted

Future Scope of the study: 

This very specific research is successfully conducted with the help of immense reliable and valid resources. Still the study is not devoid of some of its major drawbacks. In the data analysis part, the study has focused to follow secondary data analysis (thematic analysis). Secondary data is highly based on the resource of journals, article and newspaper and so on.  The researcher could have used post-positivism research philosophy instead of interpretivism. Post positivism research philosophy is based on keen observation along with appropriate evidence. On the other hand, in interpretivism philosophy, the researcher gets enough scope of interpreting data from different aspects. As a result, the data may lose its reliability and validity.

  Moreover, the study could have focused in using primary data collection technique in order to get immediate response from the participants. Primary source of data collection technique is highly effective in involving the respondents directly to the research issue. However, the entire time schedule of the research plans and activities can be extended in future for gathering more relevant data and information on the identified research issue. 

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