More than 190 participants at the 5th annual Green Ship Technology conference in Rotterdam on March 11-12 explored the latest tide of ‘stick and carrot’ options for making shipping environmentally sustainable. Eco-friendly solutions aired at the forum ranged from legislative compulsion to commercially beneficial inducements. On the one hand, there were stark warnings that politicians are preparing to impose mandatory emissions rules if there is no firm outcome to meetings of the International Maritime Organization marine environment protection committee (MEPC) scheduled between now and mid-2009. But delegates also heard how a voluntary…