Important decisions are on the horizon that could bode well for the maritime industry in the Netherlands. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the U.N. agency charged with preventing shipping pollution, has been holding talks to possibly move their target to reduce emissions by half from 2050 to 2040 (as compared with the levels found in 2008).

If an agreement is reached, this will be a groundbreaking decision because 90 percent of all goods are currently shipped by sea, with 70 percent as containerized cargo.

Even though shipping is relatively cleaner than other transport due to the sheer bulk of cargos, current fossil fuels used in shipping emit high levels of greenhouse gasses.

Globally, shipping accounts for 3 percent of greenhouse gasses. This is the equivalent to the carbon footprint of a middle-sized to large country.

The team at IMO are predicting shipping emissions under a business-as-usual scenario would increase between 50 percent to