Asian Shipping to speak out

INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Shipping chairman Spyros Polemis has he called on Asian shipowners' to play a fuller part in international regulatory discussions, reflecting the importance of the Asian shipping industry. He said that Asian owners are not yet taking a big enough role in IMO and ILO.

Speaking at the Sea Asia conference in Singapore he said: “One of the major issues which we are trying to address is how we collectively make policy makers more aware of the critical role that shipping plays in the smooth functioning of the global economy; moreover that we are responsible, safe, clean, and comprehensively regulated.”

But he cautioned: “We cannot expect politicians and regulators to recognise the aspirations of shipping if we do not go to the trouble of putting forward in clear terms the benefits we bring, and the efficiencies with which we operate.”

He said that the centre of gravity of the international shipping industry had moved to the East. “Asian shipping is no longer a sleeping giant, and it now has a position in the international maritime community that would have been hard to imagine 20 years ago.” “However,” he continued, “while many Asian governments play an increasingly full part at IMO and ILO, the Asian shipping industry as a whole is perhaps not always really punching at its full weight in many global maritime regulatory discussions.”

According to Mr Polemis a clear current example of an issue which was vital to all international shipowners wais the discussions at IMO about the marine environment, where it was vital that Asian shipowners’ associations fed in their views to bodies such as ICS and ISF which were in a position to put forward a coherent position on behalf of the global industry.

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