Shipping lawyer George Chalos has highlighted what he expects to be heavy-handed US enforcement of the IMO's looming emissions regulations.
Speaking at TradeWinds' IMO 2020 Disruption Forum Thursday afternoon in New York, the maritime attorney told the assembled that the US Coast Guard uses "a hammer where a flyswatter will do".
He said the agency has already collected half a billion dollars in fines against foreign-flag shipowners while enforcing environmental rules, leading to his fear that it will hunt for more fines with the coming sulphur limits.
"I think it's going to be a disaster for the industry," said Chalos, principal at Long Island-based Chalos & Co.
“IMO is clear in its ambition, but it doesn’t give the path forward to comply. We have refinery challenges. We have scrubber challenges. Even if you want to put a scrubber on your vessel, you can't get one," he added. "You’re going to have lack of availability of compliant fuel.”
He said a recent case in which a ship violated an emissions control area in the Caribbean by burning non-compliant fuel saw the Coast Guard get the Department of Justice involved. The government's opening demand in plea proceedings, he said, was an eight-figure sum.
Further, he accused the government of using whistleblower awards as a cudgel to push seafarers into telling on their employers and officers. He even playing an audio clip of a Coast Guard investigator telling a mariner he can get a cash award or be punished.
The Coast Guard did not immediately return requests for comment.
“If I made that sort of presentation to a witness on behalf of a shipowner or ship operator and the government found out about it, I would probably be in jail and certainly have issues with my licence,” he said.
“This is going to be another feather in the government's cap to fill the coffers in DC."
