Ben Pinnington, founder of Polaris Media, writes for Splash today. His new book, Making Waves: PR strategies to transform your maritime business, will be published by Rethink Press on Amazon on November 4.
The sound of screeching breaks can be heard around the world. There can be little doubt the bruising confrontations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) earlier this month are thrusting maritime further into the mainstream and the optics are not great.
Splash reported that shipping has suffered its biggest setback in 40 years as delegates at the IMO, under pressure from the US, voted to delay the IMO Net Zero Framework for a year. A measure backed by many in the IMO six months ago is now on life support.
Maritime has hardly taken its public relations in the mainstream media seriously for decades and now there is a reckoning. Check this stinging rebuke from the Wall Street Journal: “This week we warned that a United Nations agency you’ve never heard of was about to impose the first global carbon tax—on shipping. We’re pleased to report it blinked. The whole project smacked of the taxation without representation that America was founded to resist.” Ouch.
We cannot say we did not see this coming. There were clear signs of fracturing relationships during last month’s London International Shipping Week when ABS CEO Christopher Wiernicki dropped a bombshell saying: “Shipping and the IMO are on different trajectories.”
Many have warned you cannot choose to be low profile. The news can come to you. And if you have not built a reputation communicating good behaviour you cannot expect the mainstream to give you the benefit of the doubt when a story like this breaks and a schism within the sector develops.
This is now a massive public relations challenge for maritime. If the sector does not stand up for itself the vacuum will be filled by negativity and misinformation.
As we all know the decarbonisation question is incredibly difficult for our sector. And maritime must now up its game and educate the mainstream about its “emissions Everest”, setting out the immense cost to decarbonise the industry – up to $1.9trn. And further explain how difficult it is to find an alternative fuel to power ships the size of the Empire State Building with 120,000 hp engines.
Failure to get this right risks a deeper reputational backlash. Today, as is well documented within the industry, shipping is responsible for 3% of global emissions but that could rise to 18$ by 2050 as other sectors like road, rail and aerospace decarbonise much more quickly and easily leaving maritime exposed as the laggard.
In addition, maritime should now double down and highlight the billions being invested in decarbonisation and innovation. The industry can point to some seriously impressive results: between 2009 and 2019, carbon dioxide emissions fell by approximately 14%, according to Clarkson estimates, despite a roughly 40% increase in cargo volumes. Quite an achievement, and one we should be shouting from the rooftops, thanks to slow steaming and new greener technology. In comparison, emissions from road transport rose by about 20%, while those from air transport grew by around 25%.
Maritime can further point to the huge efforts it is making to tackle emissions, from wind power to retrofits deploying batteries, to greener alternative fuels, to high-tech AI routing efficiencies and weather mapping, as well as hull cleaning.
For all the trials and tribulations at the IMO, this is an incredible effort and should now be championed, not just in the maritime press but celebrated across mainstream and social media. Now in light of the crisis engulfing the IMO this campaign is needed more than ever.
