London-based ICS has expressed concerns that information collected by its member national shipowners’ associations suggests that many governments are not yet prepared to implement the IMO Marpol Annex VI regulation in a uniform manner.
“The shipping industry is investing billions of dollars in order to ensure compliance with this major regulatory change, and the huge costs involved could have a profound impact on the future structure of the entire shipping industry,” said Peter Hinchliffe, secretary general of ICS.
“We therefore think it is vital that governments get the details of any PSC intervention right as we enter a new world in which fuel costs for many ships will increase overnight by 50% or more,” Hinchliffe said.
He added that with only six months to go, the Paris memorandum of understanding (MOU) on PSC and its member states, in coordination as may be appropriate with the US and the EC, should clarify all the details of the ECA implementation with respect to PSC inspection as soon as possible.
“ICS believes it is important for the maintenance of fair competition that implementation occurs throughout the Paris MOU region in a consistent and harmonised manner,” Hinchliffe said.
With the exception of the US, all of those coastal nations that are located within the IMO sulphur ECAs (in North America, the North Sea and the Baltic) are party to the Paris MOU.
ICS said it has written to the Paris MOU in order to draw attention to the global shipping industry’s serious concerns with respect to the sulphur ECA implementation.
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