EXECUTIVE IN PROFILE DEBATE
Macron puts go-slow movement back on the agenda
The French president has demanded ships must slow down. Not everyone is convinced
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iarritz, the French Atlantic resort town, is normally packed with high-spending holidaymakers in late August. Not this year, as security descended to this southwest corner of the country, sweeping the area for explosives, clearing many of the famous surf beaches in preparation for the annual G7 summit with Donald Trump et al bound for this posh slice of seaside. Despite the immense security operation, the host, Emmanuel Macron, was able to detonate one massive bombshell for the shipping industry as the summit was set to get underway. In a televised statement just
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as the G7 talks were set to get underway, the French president said getting mandatory speed limits in place for world shipping was his number one environmental goal, reigniting a debate that had been high up the agenda when the Marine Environmental Protection Committee met at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) earlier this year.
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“Very solemnly, for the first time, we will engage with shipping companies to reduce the speed [of merchant ships],” Macron said, adding that he would be discussing the measure with other heads of state. “It is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally and this measure would be a real change,” Macron insisted. In April this year France made
Simply introducing a mandatory speed limit can have negative impacts on the efficiency of an engine
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maritime ceo