Stena Line chief executive Niclas Martensson has criticised the European Union (EU) for introducing separate regulations and added the International Maritime Organization (IMO) should make such decisions.
Speaking during a short sea shipping conference on the first day of the European Shipping Week (ESW) in Brussels, Martensson referred to the sulphur emission control areas (SECA) regulation applied in certain parts of Europe.
Martensson noted the new legislation came at a big cost for Stena Line and added shipping companies were lucky that the SECA regulation came into force when the oil price was low.
“Our preference is always that shipping should be regulated in IMO,” he said.
His comments came two weeks after the European Parliament decided to include shipping in its emissions trading scheme (ETS).
This issue has sparked conflicting opinions with the IMO strongly criticising the EU, while other organisations have slammed the IMO’s stance.
Martensson told TradeWinds on the sidelines of ESW he was also referring to the ETS when he mentioned European separate regulations.
He said: “Regulators are right and wrong at the same time, I am referring to the ETS as well.”
Stena Line controls around 40 vessels and is one of the major short sea shipping players in Europe.
Brexit keeps Stena sleepless
During his speech, Martensson also cited Brexit as one of the few things that keeps Stena Line “sleepless”.
He said: “For the moment, we are closely monitoring the situation and try to support the progress to keep the impact slow.
“Nobody on earth knows the answer to the post-Brexit question.”
Stena Line was tipped as one of the big companies to be mulling a UK-flag exodus.
But Martensson told TradeWinds: “This was just a line that was isolated from what I said last June.
“We don’t consider anything right now and we are not a company that makes decisions over rumours and speculations.”
