On 1 April 2014, the French organisation Cedre is organising an information day in Paris, France, on Hazardous and Noxious Substances. To address the complex issue of chemical incidents and risks at sea and in rivers, Cedre has asked French, European and international partners to present details of the information networks, regulations and research conducted in this field.

To illustrate this topic with an example of a recent shipping incident, a representative of the group of experts in charge of advising the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) has been invited to give a presentation on the consequences of the fire on board the MSC Flaminia.

Hundreds of millions of tonnes of chemicals are transported annually by sea and river, and are traded in ports. These substances are carried either in bulk or packaged. The constantly growing fleet of chemical tankers and container ships, whose ever-increasing size is cause for concern, exacerbates the risk of accidents and spills into the natural environment. The efforts made by the International Maritime Organization towards greater consideration of this situation testify to this. Accidents involving chemical tankers (Ievoli Sun, Ece...) and container ships (Napoli, MSC Flaminia) have highlighted the technical difficulties and international dimension of maritime incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances (HNS).

（spill-international.com,  Edited by Topco)