Globalization, competition, and convergence: Shipping and the race to the middle

This article examines the impact of globalization on international environmental, safety, and labor standards through the lens of impact of open registration in shipping-the ability of shipowners to choose in which states to register their ships. Shipowners have moved registration of ships to low-standard states, while traditional national registries relaxed standards in an effort to keep ship registrations. But recent successes in increasing standards have come from mechanisms of exclusion: ships that remain outside the international regulatory process are prevented from benefiting from their free riding by the imposition of trade restrictions, dockworker boycotts, and inspection and detention processes that single out those operating outside the international regulatory framework.