Tung rejects “ill-conceived” shipping regulations from developed countries

Tung rejects “ill-conceived” shipping regulations from developed countries

Tung rejects “ill-conceived” shipping regulations from developed countries

   C.C. Tung, the new president of the Baltic and International Maritime Council, criticized developed countries for imposing poor regulations on the shipping industry because of pressures from interest groups.
   “The governments of these countries, either unilaterally or collectively, now legislate under the influence of vociferous interest groups and in favor of what they perceive to be the best interests of their consumers with little or no attention paid to the interest of the shipping industry which supplies these same consumers,” said Tung, who is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Orient Overseas (International) Ltd.
   “While we understand and in most cases support these initiatives they may sometimes be politically driven, be ill-conceived or of limited perspective and worse, can at times prove ultimately to be counter-productive,” Tung added.
   Tung named in particular the European Union’s regional policy of restricting access to European waters for single-hull tankers, and requiring double-hull ships instead. Unilateral or regional legislation produces “unintended consequences,”such as moving a perceived problem to other regions, Tung said, citing the European Union restrictions on single-hulled tankers. Based in Hong Kong, he said that he comes “from the part of the world to which several hundred older and single skinned tankers may soon be heading.”
   In his inaugural speech to the general meeting of BIMCO in Barcelona as incoming president, Tung also noted that “one of the issues at the forefront of our industry today is that of regulation, or perhaps over-regulation.” Instead, BIMCO is advocating voluntary self-regulation by the shipping industry.
   Otherwise, BIMCO supports international regulations such as those of the International Maritime Organization, “as the only legitimate and practical vehicle for international maritime regulation.”
   “It was BIMCO, which some years ago warned of the emergence of a ‘patchwork’ of regulation which would threaten the shipping industry with chaos,” Tung said.
   The BIMCO association of shipowners is talking to government agencies to seek “practical solutions to difficult problems,” he said.
   He stressed that the global shipping industry has its roots in what are the developed nations of today. But these developed nations “have slowly relinquished their predominant position in shipping,” he observed. “Instead they have become the consumer nations of the world and in the process of becoming so, their perspectives have changed.”
   Tung also said that BIMCO has obtained some favorable results after discussing with U.S. authorities the difficulties raised by new rules on security in shipping, such as U.S. visas