IMO’s Dominguez urges owners to engage more as frustration over green regulation grows

Lloyd's list link: https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1157444/IMO%E2%80%99s-Dominguez-urges-owners-to-engage-more-as-frustration-over-green-regulation-grows

Green policies have strained relations between policy makers and shipowners
Doubts remain as to whether penalties are being reinvested sufficiently
Shipowners can become more involved if they believe they are not effectively represented, says IMO secretary-general

by Joshua Minchin

Dominguez said owners are already represented at the IMO through active industry organisations and urged them to engage more closely with those bodies if they believe their voice is not being heard

DOMINGUEZ: ‘I NEED [SHIPOWNERS’] UNDERSTANDING AS WELL THAT WE CAN’T SAY YES TO ALL THE REQUESTS ALL THE TIME.’

SHIPOWNERS should engage more actively with the bodies that represent them if they believe their regulatory concerns are not reaching policy makers, according to International Maritime Organization secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez. Speaking to Lloyd’s List in Athens, he said owners have ample channels to influence policy but must use them more effectively.

His comments come as shipping’s relationship with policy makers comes under increasing strain, particularly over green regulation. Shipowners warn that such regulation is being set without realistic paths or sufficient industry input.
At Posidonia last week, many owners repeated a familiar complaint that regulators at both the IMO and the EU are pushing ahead with ambitious decarbonisation targets without providing the tools, fuels or financial mechanisms needed to meet them. Several argued that consultation remains limited, and the gap between political ambition and operational reality is widening.

Costas Delaportas, who heads up bulker owner Drydel Shipping, said regulators, do not listen to shipowners enough, pointing to what he sees as unrealistic expectations placed on an industry that accounts for just 2.5% of global emissions. While owners “fully accept” the need to decarbonise, he said regulation must be “realistic and achievable” rather than aspirational targets without a clear route to compliance.
That frustration has been directed at both the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework and the EU’s FuelEU Maritime and Emissions Trading System, where owners question whether the penalties they pay will be reinvested into making alternative fuels affordable and available. Many in Athens echoed these concerns, noting that while money is leaving the industry, the green fuel infrastructure it is meant to support has yet to materialise.
Dynacom owner George Prokopiou went as far as to claim that IMO chief Dominguez wanted to be “the world’s biggest banker” during remarks at Capital Link last week.

ECSA European Shipowners chief Sotiris Raptis pointed to the orderbook as evidence that owners are already investing in the transition, noting that Europe’s share rises to 44% for alternatively fuelled vessels compared with 34.5% for conventionally powered ships.
Even so, he continues to press Brussels to reinvest revenues from FuelEU Maritime and the EU ETS into green‑fuel production, arguing that supply and affordability remain the missing pieces of the puzzle.
“This is missing in Europe,” he told Lloyd’s List.
It’s a view that was echoed by Safe Bulkers boss Polys Hajioannou. He said he had ordered dual-fuel ships but did not see the “bunkering network or availability of dual fuel in any meaningful masses at reasonable prices”.
He said the EU, and potentially the IMO, “must invest some of those penalties they are receiving into the availability of dual fuels”.
News this week that the European Council has committed to avoiding “double payments” has been welcomed, not least by Raptis, who said this represented “some progress” on the European side. However, this is still not a binding commitment.

Speaking to Lloyd’s List in Athens before the council’s commitment, Hajioannou said he felt shipowners like himself were being listened to more in the wake of MEPC83, where the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework stuttered.
EU leaders have realised, he said, that Europe “must be autonomous”, and not just rely on Asian tonnage to deliver its goods.
“We know that America has no shipowners to provide transportation, so you have to rely on your own tonnage,” he said, “and you have to support the processes to make the fuel transition more affordable”.
Raptis agreed, highlighting the progress that had been made at European level.
“I think our voice is taken into account more by policy makers,” he told Lloyd’s List.

European shipping is being “taken seriously more and more” by politicians on the continent, he said.
But some still feel there is a gap between policy makers and shipowners. DryDel’s Delaportas said a “closer partnership” between regulators and industry is a must.
“Policy makers should focus not only on setting targets, but also on helping create the conditions necessary to meet them,” he said.
“Shipowners still need to push hard for their voices to be heard. Greater dialogue would lead to more effective and workable regulation for everyone.”

Policy makers though may argue that engagement is a two‑way street and that shipowners already have ample opportunity to make their views heard.
At IMO, Dominguez insisted that owners are “very well represented” through non-governmental organisations, which are “very active at IMO”.
He too however is more than aware of the difference in opinion even among shipowners, especially when it comes to the green transition.
“We cannot please them all, and that's a reality. The same way that I say in relation to the countries, we need to find compromises and balance.”
Shipowners, he said, should “rest assured” that they are represented sufficiently and that all regulatory processes consider the negative impacts on both the industry and consumers.

“But I need their understanding as well that we can’t say yes to all the requests all the time.”
Crucially, owners should be more active if they believe they were not being accurately represented at policy level, he said.
“There’s always an opportunity to engage more and invest more, and if they feel that their message is not coming across, then they have their entities, they have their member states,” he told Lloyd’s List.