Europe torpedoes progress on boxship carbon emissions

LAST week at a key International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting, European countries acting as a bloc opposed a proposal that would have delivered further significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from container ships.

The 73rd session of IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) finished on Friday after two weeks of discussions on a wide range of topics.

A lot of time was given to matters surrounding the 2020 introduction of the 0.5 per cent cap on sulphur in marine fuel. Suffice it to say for now that some useful work was done on this issue, which will continue to feature prominently in this column over the coming year.