Global Leaders Gather in Vancouver, Sign New International Declaration on Ship Safety

May 4, 2017 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Transport Canada

Canada is a large country that relies on investment, openness and trade for its economic success. We need to ensure that people and products can move quickly and safely. By investing to modernize Canada’s transportation system and to protect our oceans and waterways, the Government will help Canadian business to compete, grow and succeed as well as creating more jobs for the middle class and those working hard to join it.

Global leaders in marine shipping signed a new declaration that will protect our oceans and advance international ship safety at the Third Joint Ministerial Conference on Port State Control in Vancouver, BC, today. The Conference, held May 2-4 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, brought together Ministers and Heads of Delegation from Canada, as well as from 27 European and 23 Asia-Pacific countries.

Port State Control is an international program for inspecting foreign ships entering local waters. Port State Control inspections ensure that these ships meet international safety, security and environmental standards, and that crew members have adequate living and working conditions.

The new Ministerial Declaration on Port State Control is a commitment by European and Pacific Rim countries to continue to eliminate substandard shipping practices that result in loss of life, damage to property and harm to marine environments. It will help create new global policies that advance this goal, putting pressure on administrations and owners of substandard ships to comply with international ship safety standards.

This event marks the third time Canada is hosting the Joint Ministerial Conference on Port State Control, which was also held in Vancouver in 1998 and 2004. The declarations signed at previous conferences have helped improve safe shipping and reduce the number of substandard ships operating worldwide.