Melanesian Sub-Regional Compensation and Liability Workshop, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Ms Chiara Della Mea, Claims Manager, was invited by the IMO and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP), to help organise and deliver a Melanesian sub-regional workshop on compensation and liability in Papua New Guinea from 23-25 January 2012.
The seminar was hosted by the Papua New Guinea National Maritime Safety Agency (NMSA), with 27 participants in attendance from government agencies in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia.
The workshop was opened by Mr Henry Parakei, Secretary for the Department of Transport, Papua New Guinea. Delegates heard a mixture of lectures and case studies detailing experience of incidents in the participating states. Ms Della Mea delivered a number of presentations, focusing on the implementation of the 1992 Conventions into national law and States’ and contributors’ obligations, as well as providing an overview of the claims handling process. The workshop also included presentations from SPREP, the International Group of P&I Clubs and ITOPF. Ms Della Mea and Mr Alex Hunt from ITOPF ran a table top exercise simulating an oil spill clean-up operation followed by the submission of the associated claims for assessment and discussion.
The seminar led to interesting debate among the participants, given their different situation with regards to the compensation regime, with some States being only Parties to the 1992 CLC while others being Parties to the 1992 Fund Convention as well and Australia being a Supplementary Fund State.