ICS Meets in Australia
Focus on piracy, shipping emissions and BWM Convection The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) held its Annual General Meeting in Port Douglas, Queensland, from 24 to 25 May, hosted by the Australian Shipowners' Association. The meeting was held back-to-back with the AGM of the Asian Shipowners' Forum (ASF) which comprises the national shipowners' associations of Asia.At the ICS AGM, national shipowners' associations from Europe, Asia and the Americas, representing all sectors and trades and 80% of the world merchant fleet, considered pressing international issues of concern to global ship operators. Matters discussed included the continuing piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean and the challenge of further reducing ships' CO2 emissions. Another pressing concern discussed by ICS members was the serious problems for shipowners created by the delayed entry into force of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. Ballast Water ChaosThe newly elected ICS Chairman, Mr Masamichi Morooka (Japan) commented:"ICS members identified genuine concerns about the availability of suitable ballast water treatment equipment, the robustness of the type approval process and the huge expense of retrofitting existing ships."Because of major changes proposed at IMO to important draft guidelines on ballast water sampling and analysis that will be used by port ...
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