A majority of Splash readers taking part in our latest online survey believe that liners should not continue to enjoy their block exemption regulation (BER) when it comes up for renewal with the European Commission (EC) next April.
The block exemption has been in the headlines in recent months with a number of important voices including a host of shippers’ bodies and the International Transport Forum suggesting the EC should not renew it in 2020, while liner lobby group, the World Shipping Council has argued that liner alliances do not hold overbearing market shares and so ought to carry on benefiting from the BER, an exemption from EU competition law. The EC will announce its decision later this year after combing through hundreds of pages of submissions on the matter.
With 400 votes cast in our latest MarPoll survey, 61% of Splash readers believe the BER should not be extended next April. Voting in our survey is set to close tomorrow with results of the survey to be published in the next issue of Maritime CEO magazine.
The survey also looks at IMO 2020 compliance, with a quarter of respondents to date believing more than one in five ships will not be ready for the global sulphur cap. Other issues up for discussion include demo volumes and how the Baltic Exchange goes about disseminating data. Voting takes as little as two minutes to complete and there is no registration. To vote, click here.
