The not-for-profit organisation the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) is as a source of objective technical expertise in the area of accidental spills of oil, chemicals, and other cargoes and substances in the marine environment.

As the federation is a not-for-profit basis is it supported and maintained by the world’s shipowners and their insurers and the ITOPF cite it is their mission to promote effective spill response.

Each year, up to £75,000 is made available by ITOPF to fund R&D projects to improve our knowledge and understanding of issues related to accidental marine pollution from ships. The award is intended to support a combination of PhD projects and/or short-term projects which have the potential to lead to improvements in all spill related matters. This funding typically supports research costs, plus a student stipend and university fees in the case of a PhD project.

The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate and encourage organisations worldwide to develop ideas that can potentially provide solutions to some of the challenges faced by the spill response community.

For more information on the 2021 ITOPF R&D Award, please visit the ITOPF website.

The closing date is 30th November 2020.

Afloat adds the ITOPF was established in 1968 following the first major oil spill from a supertanker, the Torrey Canyon which took place more than 50 years ago.

As the BBC recalls the tanker spilled more than 100,000 tonnes of crude oil having hit the rocks in Cornwall, UK causing enormous damage to wildlife and also affecting the shore of northern Brittany in France. 

Arising from the Torrey Canyon disaster, technical services functions for tanker owners and P&I insurers were developed during the 1970s and extended to other shipowners in 1999. For statistics of oil spills in 2019 click the ITOPF here and for a download of historical data for the past 50 years.

#Shipping - The latest Weekly Shipping Market Review from the Irish Marine Development Office (IMDO) reports of a strong rise in earnings in the tanker market despite a reduction in activity for December 2012.

Demand for VLCC and Aframax tankers in the Arabian Gulf experiences the steepest decline, of 37% and 45% respectively - though the market as a whole was still able to finish above the two-year average.

The dry-bulk market is also expected to exceed fleet growth in the latter half of this year, with day rate for Panamax class vessels set to increase by 12.5%.

Closer to home, plans are in the works to extend a Finnish scheme to support investment in cleaner shipping in the European Union.

Amendments to the scheme are aimed at stricter rules that will apply to marine fuel when the Sulphur Emission Control Area - comprising the English Channel, North Sea and Baltic Sea - comes into force in 2015.

The complete Shipping Markets Review for week 4 is available as a PDF to read or download HERE.