The International Chamber of Shiping (ICS) calls for mandatory cost benefit analyses of all environmental regulations prior to IMO approval.
Photo: Stena Bulk
In relation to the IMO’s World Maritime Day, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) calls for all future environmental regulations impacting ships to undergo a complete cost benefit analysis prior to IMO approval, says the ICS in a press release.
The statement springs from the fact that the ICS wants the authorities to notice the part of sustainability that lies beyond the goods transported around by the industry, as well as the fact that cargo transport on ships of more than 8,000 teu is the least pollluting way to transport goods between the continents.
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“International shipping directly facilitates the growth of world trade, economic development, and the improvement of global living standards – including amongst the billion or more people that do not yet have access to electricity,” says Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe.
The ICS recommendations are collected in a paper found here.
In terms of environmental sustainability, the ICS also states that shipping is the only major industry that already has a binding global agreement in place aimed at reducing CO2 emissions. And as for social sustainability and solid working conditions for seafarers, shipping is the only industry that can boast such extensive mandatory global conditions, imposed on the industry by, among other things, the new ILO convention on the working conditions for seafarers.
The financial aspect also matters, and the ICS points to the necessity of finding a way to sustain a viable economy in the industry while also pursuing sustainable initiatives on the two fronts.
“Unless the industry is commercially viable it will not be able to deliver the investments in environmental and social improvements that are sought by regulators on behalf of society at large,” says Peter Hinchliffe in the press release.
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