Half-hearted support for shipping's global regulator

THE people at both the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), whose member national shipowner associations represent over 80 per cent of the world merchant fleet, and also at the Comité Maritime International (CMI), the international association for maritime lawyers, are very polite and choose their words in a most diplomatic fashion.

They have just released an updated brochure to promote the importance of governments ratifying international maritime conventions, especially those adopted by the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

ICS says the aim of the brochure Promoting Maritime Treaty Ratification is "to encourage more widespread ratification of some key maritime instruments that would benefit from a greater level of global acceptance. This includes a number of important instruments which have not yet received adequate ratifications from governments to enter into force globally".