Earlier this year, as we reported in this blog, the IMO agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2050. Hopes that concrete measures might emerge from MEPC 73 which concluded on Friday have been disappointed. Two proposals were put forward which would make an immediate impact on reducing shipping’s GHG emissions – capping ship speeds and higher efficiency standards for new build container ships from 2022 – but neither was approved. Further work on this issue will continue next year in MEPC 74.
Other issues considered in MEPC 73 were a proposed ban on use of heavy fuels in the Arctic from by the end of 2021 which will be further developed by the Pollution Prevention and Response subcommittee at its meeting in February 2019.
The IMO has also had its ‘Blue Planet’ moment by developing an action plan to address marine plastic litter from ships, and ship based activities. The plan identifies a number of actions, which will be reviewed at MEPC 74 prior to further work being undertaken, including a proposed study on marine plastic litter from ships and looking into the availability and adequacy of port reception facilities
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Professor Simon Baughen
Professor Simon Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon's book on Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is already well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in:Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance.
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