IMO Secretary General Efthimios E Mitropoulos recently presented the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) certificates and flags to Captain Brett Whiteoak, BP Australia, and Andrew Douglas, ASP Ship Management for the 'British Fidelity' and 'British Loyalty', the most recent ships to be approved and accepted into the AUSMEPA Ship Membership Scheme.
The presentation ceremony took place during the NatSHIP 09 conference in Sydney where the IMO Secretary General was the keynote speaker.
Admiral Mitropoulos said, in recognising the marine environmental awareness and education work undertaken by AUSMEPA and the other MEPAS around the world, how pleased he was to make this presentation which rewarded these two ships for their excellent marine environmental and safety record.
Michael Julian, AUSMEPA's Executive Director, who also participated in the presentation, said the AUSMEPA Ship Membership Scheme had been introduced to award ships which can demonstrate a high level of safety and marine environment consciousness.
"To fly the AUSMEPA flag is a sign of quality," said Mr Julian
To be approved by the AUSMEPA board for ship membership, a ship must be able to demonstrate a good safety and environmental record according to AUSMEPA's guidelines. These vessels are then entered into a database operated by Right Ship, which will monitor the ship's actions.
