Representatives of the world’s national shipowners’ associations met last week in the Faroe Islands to review the priorities of the global shipowners’ association, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The ICS Annual General Meeting was overshadowed by the attacks against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the very serious threat this presents to the lives of seafarers and maritime trade.
ICS agreed a suite of actions in support of the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) strategy to decarbonise international shipping in line with the United Nations 1.5 degree climate change goal.
The ICS AGM also confirmed the vital importance of research and development of zero-carbon fuels and propulsion systems that will be necessary to achieve the ambitious IMO target of cutting shipping’s total GHG emissions by 50% by 2050 regardless of maritime trade growth, and continuing to work with other industry stakeholders to explore how R&D can best be rapidly accelerated.
ICS members reiterated their commitment to the successful implementation of the IMO global sulphur cap from 1 January 2020, noting ICS’s plans to revise its comprehensive guidance to shipowners on ensuring compliance, to take account of recent IMO decisions. This is notwithstanding continuing uncertainty about the worldwide availability of safe and compliant low sulphur fuels, and the operational challenges associated with using new 0.5% max. sulphur blends.