Shipping's environmental record under attack

MUCH of the shipping industry was in Singapore last week. Sea Asia 2015 welcomed a massive 16,185 participants from 85 countries taking part in the three-day event and of course much else went on during Singapore Maritime Week - all positive and helping to drive the industry forward.

So while everybody was busy on the other side of the world it was an excellent time for a Europe-based environmental campaign group to slip out a report apparently saying what a terrible polluting industry shipping is - and how it needs another stiff dose of intervention to get it on the right track.

New ships built in 2013 were on average 10 per cent less fuel-efficient than those built in 1990, according to a new study, or at least that is what a press release from Transport & Environment (T&E) claims.