Accidental pollution disasters from ships, e.g. the Amoco Cadiz, the Erika, and the Exxon Valdez incidents, periodically worry the international community. Oil pollution catastrophe happened yet again off Taean in South Korea on 7 December 2007 after the Sea Prince disaster in 1995. The super tanker Hebei Spirit was hit by a crane-carrying barge and holed on its hull plate and spilled a large amount of oil into the sea, and the accident was labelled as the country’s worst ever oil-spill disaster since 1995.
Vessel accidents are considered to be prone to accidental pollution which, in the worst case, results in astronomical clean-up cost and compensation for damages to fisheries. With regard to the current catastrophe, some basic questions are asked; can the international community concerned about ship-source oil pollution not crack down on those vessel accidents? Are existing international maritime conventions to deal with maritime accidents and accidental pollution well-performing? The aim of this article is to re-examine whether major international maritime conventions have improved shipping safety and have led to a reduction in accidental pollution and to find out what role Port State Control (PSC) can play. In fact, there is always a correlation problem. It is difficult to be certain that the decrease in accidental pollution is due to IMO Conventions, and to prove this. Given that discussion deals with the observation of safety conventions, it is best to deal with a possible correlation in this article.
It is stated that in order to deal with vessel accidents and accidental pollution more effectively, the international community has periodically reviewed rules and standards for the prevention of accidental pollution and has modified them accordingly. It is arguable that those modifications have had the effect of increasingly encouraging port States to be more involved in a crackdown on sub-standard ships. The regularly-happening changes to international rules and standards suggest that the international community is devoted to the enhancement of shipping safety and minimization of accidental pollution. It is difficult to assess the exact extent to which international maritime conventions have improved the safety of ships at sea and reduced accidental pollution from ships, but no one can deny that such maritime conventions have played a vital role in enhancing shipping safety and in reducing accidental pollution. It is argued that if vessel accidents causing pollution are something that cannot be eradicated, thorough enforcement by flag States of rules and standards of international maritime conventions and, if not, by the port State authorities is something that can reduce possibilities of such accidents.