ICS Launches Annual Review of Shipping Developments

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published its latest Annual Review of maritime policy and regulatory developments, in advance of its Annual General Meeting, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association in Oslo from June 5-7.

The 2013 Annual Review, which covers the wide-ranging scope of ICS’s activities as the world’s principal international trade association for ship operators, can now be downloaded free of charge from the homepage of the ICS website.

Printed copies are being distributed via ICS’s 36 member national shipowners’ associations, which collectively represent all sectors and trades and over 80 percent of the world merchant fleet to the international regulatory bodies that impact on shipping, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The ICS Annual Review focuses on a number of key issues for 2013. These include the need for policy makers to balance the importance of protecting the environment with shipping’s economic sustainability, the ongoing debate about the regulation of CO2 emissions, the entry into force of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention, developments with respect to piracy and hostage taking, and discussions to ensure safe and pollution free ship operations in the Arctic (about which the ICS Board will join transport and shipping Ministers from around the world for a Summit in Oslo, on June 5, hosted by the Norwegian Government).

Concise but comprehensive, the ICS Annual Review also addresses developments in maritime safety, labor affairs, manning and training, maritime law and insurance, as well as shipping and trade policy concerned with the maintenance of the ‘level playing field’ and open shipping markets. 

In his introduction to the 2013 Annual Review, ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka, remarked, “The key message which I have been communicating to regulators during this first year in office has been the need for greater focus to be given to the economic sustainability of shipping, backed up by evidence of the continuous improvement of shipping’s environmental performance. The protection of the environment must always remain a priority, but the prevailing economic situation requires that a degree of pragmatism is displayed as a plethora of new environmental regulations is implemented and enforced.”

Mr. Morooka also noted, “The impressive ability of ICS to reach consensus on difficult and complex issues has been something of a revelation to me, as has the very wide range of topics in which it is necessary for ICS to be involved on behalf of shipowners worldwide.”