[tfourb]

And it would be really easy to regulate this issue away. Pass a law in the EU or US that stipulates that ship owners AND the shipping companies that contract them have to perform due diligence on the end of life value chain of their vessels. AND make it possible for foreign nationals to sue these companies in U.S./EU courts if this due diligence hasn’t been done for damages due to injury or environmental damage.

[Ekaros]

Hmm, so how would that work if the ship changes hands multiple times. And might end up in it multi-decade service life in hands of some bankrupted entity? Original buyer being responsible of also decommissioning? What if they get restructured or cease to exist?

[tfourb]

If at each transaction the prior owner would have to do serious due diligence on the likelihood of the next owner to dispose of the ship sustainably and would be liable for the method of the due diligence, it would preclude unreliable owners from ever buying the ship. And in well regulated economies, going bankrupt is not actually a license to ignore your corporate responsibilities. Owners and executives retain personal liability until the entity is actually dissolved, including assets like ships.

This is actually how we do a lot of regulation quite successfully, when we care about the outcome. There is not actually a government regulator sitting on every assembly line of every factory. Companies mostly self certify that they adhere to regulation and face steep liability if they don’t.