Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Page 45

T

he past year has not brought a revival of
global trade. Low economic growth and an
overcapacity of ships in most sectors has had
a negative impact on freight and charter rates.
Estimates for the coming years are still based
on volatile markets and low growth rates. European shipping has nevertheless been able to
maintain its global lead position of controlling
40 % of the global merchant fleet. To keep this
position, legal certainty on maintaining the EU
structural framework of the State Aid Guidelines under which shipping operates today is
essential. The recent decision of the European
Commission to continue this framework is
therefore warmly welcomed by ECSA.
Overall, political work on the different issues
that are on the EU agenda has not slowed
down, rather the opposite. The by now wellknown “sulphur file” has been on the agenda
since 2008, when the amendments to MARPOL Annex VI were agreed by the IMO. The
EU Directive reflects the IMO decision to a
very large extent. Regretfully, no solution has
been found as yet for the problems created
by the IMO decision to apply 0.1% sulphur
content in marine fuels in the SECAs as from
2015. These problems notably include the
expected modal shift to transport over land
and the fact that there are still a lot of problems
to be solved for using any of the alternative
compliance methods in the short or medium
term. Moreover, in times of financial crisis it
is extremely difficult to obtain financing from
the financial institutions to install equipment
on board ships and/or to change engines, in
particular taking into account that such alternative compliance methods are not as yet fully
operational for commercial use. Until now,
the support toolbox made available