30 Sep 13 - 18:03
During his speech at World Maritime Day Symposium
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General, Koji Sekimizu, opened the IMO symposium on 26 September 2013 by stressing the key role shipping has in a global sustainable development for trade and growth.
BIMCO President John Denholm followed up with a speech which included the following main points: shipping is the servant of world trade, it has enabled globalisation and in so doing, contributed massively to world growth in the past.
Mr Denholm stated that a cost-effective shipping industry is a prerequisite for world growth in the future. The astonishing thing is that the important role of shipping and the shipping industry to economic growth is rarely recognised as it should be. The shipping industry is a truly global industry with a multitude of users as well as owners of ships interacting with each other. The barriers to entry are low and regional restrictions are limited - in short it is close to a perfect market. Much of the credit for keeping the barriers to entry low and avoiding regional restrictions lies here with the IMO and it is important that IMO does not let up on this work as it is "being close to a perfect market" that ensures the industry adjusts to the changing demands of world trade. BIMCO believes that in looking at energy efficiency, it is important that the world looks at the consumption of each ship and not the industry as a whole, as if they look at the industry as whole, they will inevitably restrict the industry from being able to respond to the demands of world trade.
He also said that the shipping industry has no difficulty in supporting the aim of becoming a more responsible partner in the communities in which it operates, provided this is implemented on well thought through and a globally agreed framework that is established through IMO.
The Ballast Water Convention, for instance, was put in place before the technology to meet its requirements existed and without regard to the practicalities and cost of retro-fitting equipment in the world fleet. BIMCO is, of course, pleased that IMO has recognised the need for a smoother implementation process than had been originally intended, but does not feel that the proposals go far enough, as even in the slower implementation process there is likely to be a problem due to the availability of equipment and yard capacity, and in the current market, it simply will not make sense to retrofit an old ship with a ballast water treatment plant and so ships will be scrapped earlier than necessary.
Another example is sulphur emissions, where the global limit of 0.5% on the high seas by 2020 is, in the absence of stunning developments in scrubber technology, going to require ships to burn low sulphur content fuel. For the vast majority of ships just now the only low sulphur fuel they can turn to is marine diesel, as LNG is not an option, firstly because of the lack of an LNG distribution network and secondly because it is not economical to retrofit a ship to burn LNG. This means that for most ship owners, low sulphur fuel means marine diesel.
BIMCO is firmly convinced that impact assessments should be carried out before any legislation is introduced and is pleased that the IMO has signalled that it will not bring in any legislation to control Greenhouse Gases without undertaking a full impact assessment first.
He concluded that while the ship owner has no difficulty in supporting the concept of sustainability, few owners are in a position to bear the costs of the sustainability agenda.
Above text includes parts of BIMCO's President's speech during IMO World Maritime Day Symposion on 26th Sept. You may read full speech athttps://www.bimco.org/en/news/2013/09/27_world_maritime_day.aspx
