ICS chairman warns IMO’s authority at risk

The new chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has claimed that the shipping industry has to tackle the challenge of maintaining the authority of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

At the ICS’s annual Conference in London, Esben Poulsson said during his first major address in his new role that three major challenges the shipping sector has to respond to include protecting the global maritime regulatory system provided by IMO, addressing demands for a greater environmental protection and make policy makers more aware of the industry’s achievements.

Poulsson, who spoke in the presence of IMO scretary-general Kitack Lim, claimed that the global maritime regulatory system “is being challenged by the increasing tendency for EU Member States’ positions to be co-ordinated by the EU, with negative impacts on the quality of IMO debates and its decision making”.