Guy Platten, CEO UK Chamber of Shipping
Guy Platten, CEO UK Chamber of Shipping (Photo: UK CS)
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Trade association Interferry will be highl[ds_preview]ighting the ferry industry’s latest political challenges at its 41st annual conference in Manila next month. Alongside the impact of new regulations, »Brexit« will be a major topic.

In June a national referendum saw Britain vote to leave the European Union, a so-called Brexit result that could hit the ferry sector especially hard according to keynote speaker Guy Platten, CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping. Potential implications, that Platten will address, include substantial loss of freight traffic due to the imposition of controls on goods movements, as well as a loss of passenger traffic. On the positive side, Platten cites the possible restoration of duty-free sales and simpler VAT accounting rules for freight traffic.

Meanwhile, ferry operators are bracing themselves to comply with a fresh tide of environmental challenges that will be explained at the conference by Interferry regulatory affairs director Johan Roos.

The IMO Ballast Water Management Convention will finally enter force next September after reaching the required 35% of global gross tonnage. Strongly supported by Denmark, Interferry has long argued that damage caused by invasive species is not a short-sea issue and has proposed that ships continuously operating within a limited geographical area should be exempt from fitting expensive treatment systems.

Another major lobbying action involves the Energy Efficiency Design Index that came into force last September for ro-ro and ro-pax ships.  During a recent IMO review, Interferry noted that the special formula used is too difficult or even impossible to meet. Further updates from Roos will focus on impending emissions regulations, which include the European Union Monitoring, Reporting and Verification scheme.

Following last year’s introduction of Sulphur Emission Control Areas in northern Europe, the October meeting of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee is set to decide on a joint proposal from Baltic and North Sea nations to set up NOx ECAs from 2021.