Panos Laskaridis caused a hullabaloo with his use of colourful language to suggest in a documentary that Greece's shipowners do not need the country's government or regulators.
The shipowner was trying to explain that Greek shipping does not depend on the country's lawmakers or its economy, and he went far off script with some foul language in reference to what shipping companies could get away with doing to the prime minister.
The furore eventually led him to step down from the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS).
But what might have also got the goat of his colleagues at the UGS was the claim in the film Black Trail that when it comes to international regulations, the Greek government does what the shipowner group tells it to.
While that comment may be as hyperbolic as his more notorious quotes from the film, the words of Greece's top shipping official in the documentary confirmed that there are legitimate questions to be asked over the close ties between Greece's shipowning community and its regulators, at least at the International Maritime Organization level.
Black Trail journalists asked about the number of people connected to the shipping industry who serve as advisors at the IMO, particularly on the Marine Environmental Protection Committee, where a key vote on carbon cuts are scheduled for this week.
"We're talking about shipping now, so I didn't understand the question," Greek minister of shipping Ioannis Plakiotakis said.
Shipping focus
The official — who jokingly referred to himself as the world's most important shipping minister — said the delegation is focused on shipping.
"It's the environmental committee," an interviewer pointed out.
"It's the environmental committee, but specialised for shipping matters... IMO is the global regulator for maritime affairs and policy, so it is obvious that the delegation must be from the industry."
This cannot be as obviously true as the minister has claimed, and the Greek government’s handing over of its IMO delegation to the shipping industry in this way casts doubt over its credibility.
Government and industry cannot be seen as one and the same, even when it comes to Greece's relatively small delegation to the IMO and its committees.
The world is confronting the momentous challenge of combating climate change. Regulators — and that includes the IMO and Greece's government — have to make decisions that, frankly, shipping may not like.
No doubt, the voices of shipowners must be heard, and shipping companies should engage with the regulatory process.
But if the industry was the only stakeholder in maritime regulation, perhaps the IMO would not be needed at all.
To the contrary, the IMO, particularly in its function as an environmental regulator, is there to represent many more stakeholders than shipping, including the people impacted by it.
While many shipowners decry the public’s failure to see the importance of shipping, maritime industry leaders also often show myopathy about the role the broader public has as stakeholders in environmental regulation, with particular ire directed towards green groups.
Rich history
As we report in our annual Greece Business Focus, the country has a rich history in shipping and it makes sense for its government to see it as a pivotal sector.
But the report also highlights that Greek shipowners, as they did in the transition from wind to steam, are reticent to move fast on decarbonisation. This needs to change.
Plakiotakis told the Black Trail interviewers that carbon cutting is important to the Greek government and to its shipping industry.
But the nation that leads the world in shipowning would do better for its broader stakeholders to incentivise its shipping community to take a leading role in tackling greenhouse gas emissions, rather than foot dragging.
In characteristically provocative language, Laskaridis told the documentarians that in his mind, 99% of the time, it is a good thing to have the government march to the tune of industry.
But if there is such alignment, it should be towards a more ambitious approach to decarbonisation.
Laskaridis asked: "Do you believe that there is one politician in the world who really cares about the environment?"
To prove that there is such a politician, good government requires an arm’s length relationship between regulators and shipping — and that goes for the IMO as well as shipping ministries.
