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Source: International Chamber of Shipping

The Chairmen of the Round Table of international shipping associations (BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping/International Shipping Federation, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO) met in London this week to discuss a number of matters considered to be "crucially important" for the Shipping Industry. The following were the resulting agreed positions.

Climate Change and Green House Gas Emissions from Shipping

1. It is hoped that the UNFCCC meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 (COP 15) will adopt a new agreement respected by all States worldwide.

2. Over the course of many years, shipping has demonstrably increased its own efficiency and that of the overall supply chain in the service of world trade and continues to strive for continuous improvement.

3. It was re-affirmed that any CO2 emission reduction measures to be applied to shipping should only be designed and implemented through the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The prime objective of any such measures should be direct environmental benefit.

4. Furthermore, all such measures should be recognised on a truly international basis and be applied to all ships in international trade, regardless of flag. Maintaining a level playing field is fundamentally important in order to achieve genuine environmental benefit. Any measure should be analysed by IMO to ensure that there is no inadvertent adverse impact on the growth in world trade or on competition within the industry.

For further details please contact:

BIMCO - Peter Grube, pg@bimco.org
Tel: +45 44 36 6800
www.bimco.dk

ICS/ISF - Simon Bennett, simon.bennett@marisec.org
Tel: +44 20 7417 8844
www.marisec.org

INTERCARGO - Rob Lomas, rob.lomas@intercargo.org
Tel: +44 20 7977 7036
www.intercargo.org

INTERTANKO – Bill Box, bill.box@intertanko.com Tel: +44 20 7977 7023 www.intertanko.com