Economic Sustainability is Key to Green Shipping -ICS
Addressing government trade negotiators in the OECD Working Party on Shipbuilding at a workshop on “green growth” in Paris, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) asserted that the shipping industry could only be environmentally sustainable if it is economically sustainable too. “The perennial challenge facing ship owners is overcapacity, aided and abetted by government subsidies and support measures that encourage shipyards to produce ships that are surplus to requirements,” said ICS Director of Policy, Simon Bennett.
ICS Addresses OECD Shipbuilding Working Party
The OECD should be cautious about becoming involved in the question of what constitutes an ‘eco-ship’, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said to governments in Paris today at a meeting of the OECD Working Party on Shipbuilding. ICS said it believes that this subject is best left to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or for shipyards to negotiate with their customers. If further consideration were to be given to an OECD definition of ‘eco-ship’ this should not be used as a justification for future subsidies by governments that might lead to market distortion. Referring to China’s new ship recycling policy whereby…