Ship owners support IMO

Ship owners support IMO    The International Chamber of Shipping is applauding the International Maritime Organization's approach in reducing shipping’s carbon dioxide emissions.
   ICS Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe said recently agreed amendments to Annex VI of IMO's MARPOL Convention, which will make the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) mandatory for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan mandatory for existing vessels, were “absolutely” what ICS had been hoped for.
   In a guest lecture at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Hinchliffe noted that with the EEDI, “the decision over which technologies to use within a specific ship design are left to the industry. So long as the required energy-efficiency level is achieved, naval architects and ship builders may employ whichever solutions they deem fit.”
   He said, “IMO's decision is an important one, not just for the shipping industry, but I think it shows that a consensus can be achieved on climate change within an international debate. It's a global first and because the IMO has done this for operational and technical measures, this means it can generate the will to do something about market-based measures as well.”
   Hinchcliffe added “the European Commission, or perhaps more correctly the European Parliament, makes a habit of trying to force IMO's hand; we saw it done over recent fuel sulfur content legislation and we are seeing it again over CO2 emissions. The EC has told the IMO on several occasions that if it does not have legislation in place by a certain date, then Brussels will impose unilateral legislation within Europe.”
   Hinchcliffe offered caution on that idea.
   'Although people imagine that this could mean the inclusion of shipping in the European Emission Trading Scheme like international aviation, in practice it is clear that Europe does not really know how to deal with the complexity of shipping.”
   The European Court of Justice is hearing a challenge to its ability to regulate emissions by non-European airlines landing in Europe.
   'CO2 emissions from international shipping cannot be reduced effectively and meaningfully through the incorporation of shipping into any regional financial instrument. Therefore ICS is strongly opposed to the application of any regional Greenhouse Gas scheme to international shipping,” he said.
   “But the problem that Europe is creating is a rush to conclusion in IMO that may very well be at the cost of good legislation. If the rush is too fast then the legislation may merely increase costs across the industry without actually reducing CO2 emissions at all — a rather pointless exercise in bureaucracy,” Hinchcliffe added.
   He said the chamber is strongly opposed to the application of the European emission trading scheme to shipping.
   “We believe that if and when governments are ready to apply a global market-based mechanism to shipping then a compensation fund-based approach is more likely to offer a bankable solution that will have the least negative impact on the carriage of goods by sea.”