Let's keep shipping regulations global

MOST of us involved in international shipping know the one golden rule when it comes to regulating the industry: regulations must be global and come from the appropriate international body, which in most cases is the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Sometimes, as with Emissions Control Areas (ECAs), regionally applicable rules can be agreed upon, but they must still fall within an IMO framework.

The reason why shipping regulations must be international is, you would think, self-evident. Ships trade all around the world and a patchwork of different or (even worse) contradictory regulatory regimes would restrict free international trade and be in nobody's best interests.

Even as shipping industry insiders heed the golden rule, it is unfortunately not given the same attention by many EU and US politicians, and certainly not by EU bureaucrat…