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SEAaT, the association dedicated to promoting abatement technology and emissions trading for ships, is to host the Shipping Emissions Trading Seminar on 2nd April at the IMO in London, to discuss and develop strategies for the implementation of emissions trading for shipping.

The seminar, which SEAaT says is "the first of its kind", is designed to give an insight to the application of emissions trading for the shipping industry - set against the much-publicized environmental imperatives of today.

The shipping industry, alongside aviation, has so far been omitted from emissions trading scheme (ETS) plans, although the European Union has stated that it would like to see ETS for shipping in place. In December, calls for ETS for shipping gained momentum when the British Chamber of Shipping advocated an international emissions trading plan, a move fully supported by SEAaT.

According to SEAaT, the Seminar has attracted a number of industry leaders from the sphere of shipping and emissions trading and will be hosted by the sponsors of SEAaT [BP, Carnival, P&O, the Norwegian Shipowners Association, Stena Line, Shell, the Swedish Shipowners Association and Teekay] as a service to the shipping industry.

John Aitken, Secretary-General for SEAaT, said of the event: “The Seminar has a number of expert speakers and panelists from shipping, trading and finance; together they will be able to provide a valuable insight into emissions trading for shipping thus facilitating informed discussion about market based instruments in this important year for ship emissions reguations.”