THERE was a core group of Greek shipowners who arrived at Posidonia this week with a single mission: kill the International Maritime Organization’s proposed carbon tax and its wider Net‑Zero Framework. They are doing it loudly, confidently and with a unity of purpose rarely seen outside a freight market crash.

The Angelicoussis Group and its allies have spent the week so far insisting the NZF is unworkable — a scheme that would raise consumer prices, squander scarce renewable energy and force the industry to bunker “non‑existent, green hydrogen‑based fuels”. The argument plays well in a room full of owners who already believe the IMO has overreached. What none of them has explained is how their preferred alternative avoids the very outcome they fear most: a patchwork of regional emissions rules, led by proliferating carbon markets.

Liberia’s counter‑proposal — strip out the carbon price, limit alternative fuels on cost and availability grounds and leave LNG as the only viable option — has become the rallying point. Politically, it is enticing. Practically, it is riddled with gaps. But as a delaying tactic, it is proving effective.

The rhetoric has hardened as geopolitical tensions push decarbonisation down the agenda. George Prokopiou dismissed the energy transition as a marketing exercise for “people printing glossy magazines”, before praising US efforts to derail the NZF. He also took aim at IMO secretary‑general Arsenio Dominguez, accusing him of trying to become “the biggest banker in the world” through the proposed Net-Zero Fund — a fund he derided as “completely outrageous” for compensating climate‑vulnerable states.

Classification societies, usually the moderating voices, have been noticeably muted. Rina and Bureau Veritas have aligned themselves with Angelicoussis‑backed statements; ABS has already called for a rethink. But the industry’s technical conscience is largely keeping its head down, lest it be seen to antagonise clients on either side of the debate.

Yet even the loudest opponents of NZF sound unsure of victory. The high-profile attacks against a “really asinine regulation” — that would hurt the industry without helping the environment — are being voiced now because there remains an underlying fear that killing the NZF may be harder than they thought.

For the moment, “no green rules during wartime” is a convenient slogan. But the IMO’s timeline is fixed, and the risk of another CII‑style regulatory mess remains a real possibility if this goes the wrong way. Alternative fuels are scarce precisely because carbon pricing has been delayed for so long. That, however, is a detail the industry seems happy to ignore — at least until Posidonia is over.

Richard Meade
Editor-in-chief, Lloyd’s List

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