Maritime regulations in recent years have been successively reviewed and revised promptly in accordance to be getting more and more concerned about the needs on safety and environment protection at sea. The results of these efforts include the amendments to the treaties of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and changes in IACS regulations etc. Some of these revisions have significant implications for shipbuilding design and construction.
Accordingly, more contribution related to technical aspects of shipbuilding are requested to these reviews of international regulations. However it is an unfortunate fact that despite accounting for some 90% of all newly-built ships worldwide, Asian shipbuilding industries continue to have little voice for these reviewing international regulations. Likely reasons for this state of affairs include lack of proper consideration of how such international initiatives are to be communicated to industries or their potential effects on such industries and the relative shortage of active or constructive contributions from Asian shipbuilders.
As world fleet increases, stricter regulations are expected to be imposed to ensure safety and environment protection. Effective engagement with these trends requires that the entire Asian shipbuilding industry quickly identify general trends in international regulations and standards and improve mutual communication in the region. In other words, shipbuilding engineers in Asia must share information and enhance their mutual understanding through discussions of matters that may significantly affect shipbuilding industries. They must then express their counterproposals and views coherently in international conferences for constructive contributions.
We, Asian shipbuilding industries firmly believe that such efforts are needed to develop reasonable and acceptable international regulations and standards based on shipbuilding technologies; to establish truly effective maritime safety and environmental protection; and to contribute to sound growth in the shipbuilding industry. These are the clear purpose of ASEF. |
