Industry split by scrap over ship-breaking

IF THE European Union (EU) can be said to be good at doing anything maritime, one could say it is doing a pretty good job of boosting the numbers of ships flagged outside the bloc.

The way things are now, unless the EU radically changes the way it intends to implement its Ship Recycling Regulation, a shipowner would be mad to register a ship in any EU state.

So what, an Asian ship owner might say. Why does it matter to the rest of the world? The answer to that is: Once again, EU arrogance is undermining global regulation.