The adoption of the joint US/Canada Emissions Control Area (ECA) appears to be a foregone conclusion and the marine industry is in broad support. However, concern does remain for the cost benefit of pushing the ECA out to 200nm on both coasts and given relatively low volumes of traffic, the justification for including Alaska and Hawaii.

Questions as to the future availability of low sulphur fuels in the Pacific region are as yet unanswered and the shape of enforcement regimes still vague.
 
On the GHG front it is probably clear to most people by now that a solution along the lines if the Danish Compensation Fund will likely prove a non starter.

Aside from the huge cost, there is no guarantee of reduced GHG emissions and despite best intentions, many questions remain as to where the monies collected would ultimately end up.

Likewise, the administration of a credible Global Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) applied to shipping seems a long shot when needing buy in from the Annex 2 countries. The added drawback to both schemes is the prospect of being penalised irrespective of ship relative efficiency.
 
A mandatory Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) is likely to find widespread support. Likewise, the Ship Energy Efficiency Operating Index (SEEOI) which formalises much of which is already standard operating practice and should therefore prove relatively non contentious.

The proposals originating from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington based World Shipping Council (WSC) then appear to have the greatest merit and therefore a greater possibility of widespread support.

Both proposals focus on technology based efficiency improvement as a road map to substantial and sustained GHG reduction with only less efficient vessels being penalised. The accumulated fund would then be reinvested in R&D.
 
Persistent threats of unilateral action by the European Union serve only to undermine the IMO process and should cease. Shipping is a globally responsible industry and deserves greater recognition and respect for its highly efficient servicing of the world economy.