Unicorn among the Cedars: On the Possibility of Effective ‘Smart Regulation’ of the Globalized Shipping Industry

Abstract

This article considers the prospects for effective regulation of emerging globalized industries by examining the effectiveness of the 'smart regulation' approach associated with the port state control enforcement regime for seafarers' health and safety. Smart regulation seeks to generate incentive structures that promote proactive compliance by ship operators. Drawing on an international comparative study, which included extensive observation of ship inspections in India, Russia and the UK, it is suggested that the main reason why the hoped-for 'market in virtue' is only weakly present turns on the perceived and actual inconsistencies in the implementation of the regulatory regime. These contrasts exist cross-nationally, and are manifested in terms of differences in the local character of enforcement practice, and in levels of trust in national regulatory administrations. The strong overall regulatory framework, the political will to avoid damaging maritime accidents, and the well-developed system of port state control, all suggest that the shipping industry may be taken as a test case for the possibility of effective smart governance of a globalized industry. The limited gains achieved in this sector thus bode ill for effective future governance of other emerging globalizing industries. SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES

An essay on ‘health capital’ and the Faustian bargains struck by workers in the globalised shipping industry

“…Prospects are thus rather limited for collective action to improve seafarers' health and safety (such as were achieved in the past in UK industries such as coal-mining -Bloor 2000-Bloor , 2005b, and enforcement of relevant international regulations (on seafarers' working hours, for example) is very far from effective (Bloor et al 2006). It should be no surprise therefore if seafarers accede to that Faustian bargain to spend their health capital in a fatalistic spirit, and if they have low expectations of their future fitness to labour.…”

Smart regulation

“…At a more specific level, EU and Dutch regulators have invoked smart regulation to combat the global problem of e-waste, and as a vehicle for effective governance of the globalised shipping industry (Bloor et al 2006). It has also been contemplated for other emerging globalising industries.…”

Supply Chain Leverage and Regulating Health and Safety Management in Shipping

“…We have to listen [to] them very carefully… But experience of Port State Control more widely is mixed. Some authors have found its regime to be effective, especially in relation to trade in the North Atlantic and similar regions (see, for example, Knapp and Franses, 2007;Li and Zheng, 2008), while others have shown that such influence is not consistent elsewhere in the world (Bloor et al, 2006).…”