EU lobby group Transport & Environment claims the new code fails to address the use of heavy fuel oil and black carbon emissions, and that environmental protection 'has been put on the back-burner through active Lobbying of the shipping and cruise industry, which consistently dismisses ecological concerns' Regulators have finally come up with a Polar Code to cover the structural and operational issues of the increasing traffic in the Arc¬tic and Antarctic regions — but environmentalists claim the pro¬posal has not gone far enough. Last week's Sub Committee on Ship Design and Construction meeting at the International Mar¬itime Organisation (IMO) drew up a final draft of the Polar Code. The idea is that the agreed code will be presented to the Maritime Safety Committee and Marine En-vironment Protection Committee for adoption this year. The Polar Code was developed to protect the environment, im-prove safety and help cope with the expected growth in Arctic and Antarctic shipping over the com¬ing years as polar ice melts due to climate change. Last year alone, shipping in the regions increased by around 50%. ICE CONDITION CLASSIFICATION The code covers operational and training issues, search and res-cue, ship design, construction and equipment. Under the code, ships are classified by their ability to cope with certain ice conditions. However, European Union (EU) lobby group Transport & Environ¬ment has hit out at the code's fail¬ure to address the use of heavy fuel oil and black carbon emissions, which it believes will pollute the environmentally sensitive region. Bill Hemmings, the organisa-tion's shipping expert, said: "A Po¬lar Code which fails to address the major environmental dangers of increased shipping opens the door to potentially catastrophic conse¬quences should a disaster happen. Environmental protection has essentially been put on the back- burner through the active lob¬bying of the shipping and cruise industry, which consistently dis¬misses ecological concerns." Transport & Environment says its aims are to promote transport based on the principles of sustainnable development Source: Trade Winds