The global switch to low-sulphur marine fuels is sure to deliver serious business to maritime lawyers, but policing the regulations may not be the huge problem that many shipowners fear.

Shipping lawyers from the main firms have been warning for some time that IMO 2020 will lead to more legal disputes.

“All of us involved in charterparty disputes will have plenty to keep us busy in the coming months and years,” Quadrant Chambers barrister Thomas Macey-Dare warned at a London seminar in May.