Slow steaming, which he called a self-inflicted wound caused by ESG, means every container ship in the world now has to slow down.

Judged as of 2022-07-04. The claim says an ESG-driven requirement made every container ship in the world slow down. True only if a binding rule in force or adopted by that date, for example from the IMO, effectively required all container ships worldwide to reduce speed, and that rule was driven by environmental or ESG goals. Mostly true if a global binding rule driven by environmental goals effectively forced speed reductions across essentially the whole container fleet, with a minor inaccuracy. An example is the IMO's EEXI/CII rules, adopted in 2021 and taking effect from 2023, if they are shown to compel slowing in practice. Mixed if environmental regulation had been adopted that pushes many ships, though not all, toward slow steaming, or that was adopted but not yet in force. Mostly false if slow steaming was widespread but mostly voluntary or cost-driven (fuel savings, capacity management), or if any rules only indirectly encourage it or cover just some ships, so that a real trend is overstated as a universal mandate. False if no rule or ESG-driven requirement of the kind existed and slow steaming was purely a commercial choice.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 IMO have a lack of urgency to clear up shipping - Supreme Freight Supreme Freight (reprinting The Loadstar) · 18 November 2019

   “The IMO has decided on a goal-setting approach by member states to decarbonise shipping, rather than progress the proposals put forward by some members for a mandatory speed reduction on vessels.”

2. E2 IMO have a lack of urgency to clear up shipping - Supreme Freight Supreme Freight (reprinting The Loadstar) · 18 November 2019

   “Nevertheless, several shipowners and operators The Loadstar has spoken to in recent weeks argued that they were already operating their vessels at the lowest speeds recommended by engine manufacturers, in order to conserve fuel and cut voyage costs to the bone.”

3. E3 Global Supply Chain News: Threat of IMO to Mandate Slow Steaming Gets No Traction SCDigest · 27 May 2019

   “The move for the International Maritime Association (IMO) to mandate so-called "slow steaming" to meet carbon emissions goals did not gain any momentum at the recent meeting of the organization's Marine Environmental Protection Committee.”

4. E4 Global Supply Chain News: Threat of IMO to Mandate Slow Steaming Gets No Traction SCDigest · 27 May 2019

   “Slow streaming is a technique invented by Maersk Line, the sector's largest container shipping line, around the time of the Great Recession in 2008 as a mean to use less expensive bunker fuel in the face at the time of plummeting shipping rates.”

The evidence shows that as of 2019 the IMO had not adopted a mandatory speed reduction and that operators used slow steaming to save fuel [E1][E2][E3][E4]. None of it covers the position on 2022-07-04, including the EEXI/CII rules adopted in 2021 that the criteria name, so it cannot show whether the claim falls under mixed or mostly false.