World Shipping Councils Chris Koch Testifies on Maritime Regulation
At the request of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, Chris Koch, President and CEO of The World Shipping Council (WSC) testified regarding some current environmental and safety regulatory initiatives in which the industry is engaged and over which the Committee has oversight responsibility.
During his discussion of ballast water treatment regulations, Mr. Koch noted the constructive coordination between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency in developing a uniform regulatory approach by the federal government, but expressed the industry’s frustration in having to “deal with this issue through the illogical and incoherent legal regime that currently addresses this issue - namely, two different federal agencies operating under two different federal statues, whose final conclusions, even if and when fully coordinated, can be second guessed by 50 States being given authority to add their own different standards to the federal Vessel General Permit (VGP) … This remains at best, wholly illogical and, at worst, a recipe for unnecessary and unproductive conflict.” He offered the industry’s appreciation for the passage of H.R. 2838, which addresses this problem and expressed the industry’s hope that the Senate will support the Committee’s efforts and approve Title VII of that bill this year.
Regarding vessel air emissions, Mr. Koch reviewed efforts to reduce NOx, SOx and particulate matter emissions from shipping through the North American Emission Control Area that will become effective on August 1st, and the International Maritime Organizations efforts to develop international measures that will reduce carbon emissions from ships. He went on to point out that the industry currently has a compelling incentive to reduce fuel consumption, and therefore carbon emissions, because “fuel is already by far the largest cost of liner operations.” The World Shipping Council estimates that at current prices, the liner shipping industry alone is probably spending roughly $50 billion a year on fuel for vessels serving the U.S. international trade.
Mr. Koch also discussed the issue of misdeclared container weights, which has been a safety concern of many maritime industry stakeholders for years, with shipping lines reporting that “in severe cases, the overweight or incorrectly declared weights reach 10% of the total cargo on board a vessel.” He explained that the WSC and other industry organizations have recommended that the IMO amend the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) to establish a universal international regulatory requirement that all loaded export cargo containers be weighed before vessel loading, and that the actual container weights be made available to the vessel operator and used for vessel stowage planning. He said that the industry was “hopeful that [its] recommendation will be seriously considered at the IMO and that the U.S. Coast Guard will be a strong supporter of this initiative. “