THE International Association of Independent Tanker Owners is giving full support to Friends of the Earth's proposals regarding shipping accidents and ecology protection.
Intertanko managing director Tormod Rafgard said Friends of the Earth had told the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that governments should avoid ''knee-jerk'' unilateral action following recent accidents.
''The best course is to work for global improvement through the IMO, the appropriate international agency,'' he suggested.
Mr Rafgard said the environmental movement had called on governments to do more to implement the many existing regulations on ship safety and environmental protection adopted by the 136 IMO states.
''Tanker owners worldwide wholeheartedly support the rational approach put forward by Friends of the Earth. There is no point in mass-producing new rules when the existing rules are not enforced,'' he said.
Describing the introduction of new rules by governments as a public relations exercise, Mr Rafgard said, making the existing rules work was a much tougher option.
In a letter to IMO secretary Williams O'Neil in January, Friends of the Earth IMO representative Gerard Peet said the marine organisation had been subjected to unfair criticism, adding that any criticism should be directed at national governments which were not enforcing existing IMO rules.