ABSTRACT
Due to the increasing rate of global warming and climate change during the past decade, a greater emphasis has been placed on the environmental management issue. The international shipping industry is no exception to this green trend, and as a result places a similar emphasis on environmental management. Furthermore international trade largely depends on maritime transportation as around 80% of the global trade by volume and over 70% by value is carried by sea and is handled by ports worldwide Panitchpakdi, S. (2013). As a result the operation of international shipping is responsible of around 3% of global CO2 emissions. Shipping emissions will grow as world trade grows and, together with aviation, are estimated to comprise 4% to 5.7% of global CO2 emissions in 2020 (UNEP) and some 10% to 32% in 2050 unless action is taken. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has been discussing what to do since it was tasked with reducing emissions from international shipping by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. An IMO action plan on market based measures is now in its 10th year.
