THE nominal shipper lobby, the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), now wants the industry to accept carbon credit taxation it has long opposed, just as it backed the bureaucracy against shippers it supposedly represented by supporting compulsory container weigh ins.
Incorporated in June 2011, the GSF is outgrowth of the Tripartite Shippers' Group (TSG), of which the European Shipper Council and the Asian Shippers Council were once a member, but no longer.
Current GSF members are the US National Industrial Transportation League, the Canadian Industrial Association, the UK's Freight Transport Association, Argentina's Condejo de Cargadores, the Union of African Shippers Councils, the South African Shippers Council, New Zealand Shippers Council and the Australian Peak Shippers Council.
The GSF works closely with United Nations agencies. In fact, its website concedes: "The decision to incorporate was taken to enable the GSF to establish formal recognition, consultation status and accreditation with the major UN agencies such as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Customs Organisation."
In a statement key to the current climate change talks in Paris, GSF said: "The shipping industry needs to set its own voluntary CO2 reduction targets for the maritime sector," which means greater taxation supported by bureaucrats and opposed by shippers.
GSF said it wanted to avoid a patchwork approach of national CO2 targets, which would be difficult to manage, reported American Shipper The European Union is ready to go with its own monitoring, verification in the absence of the United Nations ruling, it said.
"We believe the [UN's] International Maritime Organisation (IMO) should retain responsibility, given its strong track record, but more progress is needed on appropriate market-based measures (MBM)," said GSF secretary general Chris Welsh.
"The Ship Efficiency Credit Trading (SECT) proposed by the United States comes closest to meeting the principles set out by GSF," he said, without saying this is a covert tax, forcing firms to buy carbon credits because regulations force them to.
Two years ago Asian Shippers' Council (ASC) broke with the GSF, attacking the IMO over compulsory container weight verification partly because of compliance costs were hard to meet for shippers in emerging markets.
"There are millions of shippers across Asia, with different levels of maturity and different operational constraints. Cargoes have multiple modes of transport - trucks, ships and/or rail. Can you imagine trying to implement what is agreed at the IMO in such a challenging environment?" said ASC chairman John Lu.
"South America and Africa are in similar situations, and a one-size-fits-all requirement cannot work," said Mr Lu, according to Lloyd's List. "It has not worked for 100 per cent security screening and it will not work for 100 per cent verification of gross weight of containers."
Mr Lu was supported in this by the European Shippers Council, which "rejected" the container weight verification scheme, touted as a "compromise" in that shippers would have a choice between two methods of compulsory weigh-ins.
Said China Shippers' Association vice-chairman Cai Jia Xiang: "We know that 100 per cent verification being considered would increase the cost burden for shippers, generate additional paperwork and cause unnecessary delays in the supply chain. Will it improve safety? We have strong doubts."
The only shipper organisation to fully back the IMO proposal was the GSF, which took on the task of representing world shippers at the London IMO discussions.
Only this week, INTTRA, the multi-carrier e-commerce marketplace for ocean shipping, has found widespread fears of disruption chaos when container weight requirements become compulsory next July.
"Kuehne + Nagel said that unless global communication standards and practices are adopted, the requirements might create chaos when implemented," said INTTRA president Inna Kuznetsova.
Most of the 410 respondents overwhelmingly expressed concerns about the readiness of the ocean shipping industry and their own companies and customers for the implementation SOLAS verified gross mass (VGM) regulations.
New rules say containers cannot be loaded until their weight has been verified and certified. Only 30 per cent of respondents said they expected their companies or customers to be ready.
Forty-eight per cent said they "had doubts," and 10 per cent said no. Two-thirds of respondents, or 66 per cent, said they expected either a moderate or major disruption in the industry, mostly in Asia-Pacific (42 per cent), followed by Africa (22 per cent).
WORLD SHIPPING
04 December 2015 - 22:27
Pro-bureaucrat Global Shippers Forum wants industry to back carbon tax
THE nominal shipper lobby, the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), now wants the industry to accept carbon credit taxation it has long opposed, just as it backed the bureaucracy against shippers it supposedly represented by supporting compulsory container weigh ins.
WORLD SHIPPING
04 December 2015 - 22:27
Pro-bureaucrat Global Shippers Forum wants industry to back carbon tax
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