Precious Shipping managing director Khalid Hashim says commercially driven pollution policy is achieving the opposite of its stated environmental purpose.

Speaking at last week's Bimco's shipping conference in Shanghai, Hashim said he looks forward to the day when IMO member states see the light that not only high-sulphur fuel but scrubbers themselves will be "banned everywhere" and ships will run on non-carbon fuels not yet created.

In January, Hashim told TradeWinds that imposing local bans on open-loop scrubbers does as much good as declaring a no-peeing zone at one end of a swimming pool — and he has not changed his mind.

At the Bimco event, he told fellow delegates: "Marpol is anti-pollution, but scrubbers are not anti-pollution. I'm shocked that the IMO would even permit this rather than requiring compliant low-sulphur fuel oil."

Port states will eventually realise that if they ban open-loop scrubbers, ships will just discharge waste water full of sulphuric acid in nearby waters and the pollution will creep back in, he said.

Marpol is anti-pollution, but scrubbers are not anti-pollution. I'm shocked that the IMO would even permit this rather than requiring compliant low-sulphur fuel oil

Khalid Hashim

Vessels will have to run on non-carbon fuel if the IMO is to achieve its emissions goals — and these may be fuels that are as yet unknown, given the challenges of using liquid hydrogen and ammonia.

The well-attended conference was heavy on Chinese delegates, and other regional shipowners and ancillary companies. Bimco officials were on hand, including secretary general Angus Frew, current and incoming Bimco presidents Anastasios Papagiannopoulos of Common Progress and Sadan Kaptanoglu, respectively, and former president Philippe Louis-Dreyfus.

Also in attendance were Wah Kwong Maritime chairman Sabrina Chao and Landbridge Shipping chief executive Vincent Lai Jingye.

Other notables included awardees Captain Xie Chunlin, who is chairman and party secretary of China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), as well as China Classification Society vice president Fan Qiang.

The guest of honour, China Cosco Shipping chairman and Communist Party secretary Xu Lirong, did not show.

Xu enjoyed the event’s top billing as recipient of the Bimco president’s award, but he was in Beijing for meetings. Executive vice president Yu Zenggang appeared in his place.

TradeWinds understands Xu was making an unpublicised appearance before the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac), the body that serves as sole shareholder of China's non-financial central state-owned companies.

The Bimco event had the bad luck of being scheduled when China is awaiting the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's rubber-stamp parliament. The NPC opening, which took place on Tuesday, is traditionally a time for party officials to keep a low profile ahead of possible policy surprises.