International Maritime Organization Imo Safety Shipping example essay topic

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Shipping is perhaps the most international of all the world's great industries and one of the most dangerous. It has always been recognized that the best way of improving safety at sea is by developing international regulations that are followed by all shipping nations and from the mid-19th century onwards a number of such treaties were adopted. Several countries proposed that a permanent international body should be established to promote maritime safety more effectively, but it was not until the establishment of the United Nations itself that these hopes were realized. In 1948 an international conference in Geneva adopted a convention formally establishing IMO (the original name was the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization, or IMCO, but the name was changed in 1982 to IMO). The IMO Convention entered into force in 1958 and the new Organization met for the first time the following year. The Organization is the only United Nations specialized agency to have its headquarters in the United Kingdom.

Its governing body is the Assembly, which meets once every two years. It currently consists of 162 members. A Secretary General, with a staff of 300 people, heads the IMO Secretariat. The purposes of the Organization, as summarized by Article 1 (a) of the Convention, are "to provide machinery for cooperation among Governments in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical matters of all kinds affecting shipping engaged in international trade; to encourage and facilitate the general adoption of the highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships". IMO is a technical organization and most of its work is carried out in a number of committees and sub-committees. The Maritime Safety Committee is the most senior of these committees.

The Marine Environment Protection Committee is responsible for coordinating the Organization's activities in the prevention and control of pollution of the marine environment from ships. The Legal Committee is responsible for considering any legal matters within the scope of the Organization. The Facilitation Committee is responsible for IMO's activities and functions relating to the facilitation of international maritime traffic. These are aimed at reducing the formalities and simplifying the documentation required of ships when entering or leaving ports or other terminals.

All the committees of IMO are open to participation by all Member Governments on an equal basis (IMO Web page). IMO is one of the smallest of all United Nations agencies but it has achieved considerable success in achieving its aim of "safer shipping and cleaner oceans". IMO can point to what it has achieved: since it came into existence, more than fifty international conventions and more than eight hundred codes and resolutions have been adopted through its efforts (Boisson, pg. 511). Ship casualty rates have declined and the amount of oil entering the sea from ships has been cut. But although safety was and remains IMO's most important responsibility, IMO has seen other successes with the prevention of pollution initiatives. This refocus emerged in 1967 with the TORREY CANYON disaster, in which 120,000 tons of oil was spilled off the coast of Spain.

The growth in the amount of oil being transported by sea and in the size of oil tankers posed a new threat. During the next few years IMO introduced a series of measures designed to prevent tanker accidents and to minimize their consequences. It also tackled the environmental threat caused by routine operations such as the cleaning of oil cargo tanks and the disposal of engine room wastes - in tonnage terms a bigger menace than accidental pollution. The most important of all these measures was the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973.

It covers not only accidental and operational oil pollution but also pollution by chemicals, goods in packaged form, sewage, garbage and air pollution. Shipping, like all of modern life, has seen many technological innovations and changes. Some of these have presented challenges for the IMO and others have presented opportunities. The enormous strides made in communications technology, for example, have made it possible for IMO to introduce major improvements to the maritime distress system. In the 1970's a global search and rescue system was initiated. The 1970's also saw the establishment of the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), which has greatly improved the provision of radio and other messages to ships.

In February 1999, the Global Maritime Distress System became fully operational, a ship that is in distress anywhere in the world can be virtually guaranteed assistance, even if the ship's crew do not have time to radio for help, as the message will be transmitted automatically (IMO Web page). Other successful measures introduced by IMO have concerned the safety of containers, bulk cargoes, liquefied gas tankers and other ship types. Special attention has been paid to crew standards, including the adoption of a special convention on standards of training, certification and watch keeping. One of IMO's greatest successes has been the development of a technical cooperation program which is designed to assist Governments which lack the technical knowledge and resources that are needed to operate a shipping industry successfully. The emphasis of this program is very much on training and perhaps the best example is the World Maritime University in Malm"o, Sweden, which was established in 1983 and provides advanced training for the men and women involved in maritime administration, education and management (IMO Web page).

I had the unique opportunity to teach a one-week technical exchange program hosted by Singapore Maritime Port Authority in August 2002. Instruction in U.S. Coast Guard ship inspection and investigation techniques was provided to representatives from 14 "developing" Asian nations. The simple practice of providing a CD Rom with inspection checklists and regulatory references, a common tool for USCG inspectors, greatly aided the countries of Malaysia, Fiji and the Philippines in developing their countries vessel inspection programs. The Internet has greatly facilitated the sharing of ideas and information amongst the maritime industry.

Both IMO and USCG have websites that are referenced daily around the world. Recently, IMO has seen a renewed focus on security issues since the terrorist atrocities in the United States in September 2001. A new, comprehensive security regime for international shipping is set to enter into force in July 2004 following the adoption by a week-long Diplomatic Conference in December 2002 of a series of measures to strengthen maritime security and prevent and suppress acts of terrorism against shipping. The Conference was of crucial significance not only to the international maritime community but the world community as a whole, given the pivotal role shipping plays in the conduct of world trade (IMO Web page). Along with numerous successes the IMO has had some failures. Due to economic factors, the average age of the world's ships has risen steadily and statistics show that old ships have more accidents than young ones.

The fleets of the traditional maritime countries - which tend to have good safety records - have declined, while many of the flags that are growing most rapidly have relatively poor records. The persistent recurrence of major disasters in recent years has spoiled its image and reputation (Boisson pg. 511). IMO, like its father the United Nations, is in a weak position in relation to its members: it does a great job of establishing international instruments, but plays a small part in their effective implementation. This lack of control has resulted in very unequal levels of ship safety and unacceptable differences from one country to another (Boisson, pg. 511).

IMO has taken some proactive measures to correct this situation by sponsoring the first steps towards international control. Since 1993, two approached have been adopted. First, conventions contain stronger notification stipulations, requiring States signing an instrument to inform IMO of the stages of its implementation (imposed deadlines). This has been very successful.

Countries that are in full compliance of the regulations, as measured by the numbers of vessel detentions (by other countries) accrued by that countries flag are put on the "white list", the "grey list", or if you are really bad, the "black list". Vessels who are registered to countries who are listed on the grey or black list have a very difficult time entering or conducting trade in other countries. It is possible to go further with control measures. There has been numerous ideas to set up a body of international inspection officials to check ship safety (much like the idea of the United Nations having its own military force) or the establishment if an international surveillance organization or the creation of an international maritime court to prosecute flag states defaulting on their obligations (Boisson, pg. 512).

Although all these are good ideas, in reality they are not practical. In the present state of law and international community, IMO cannot behave as the world's maritime law enforcement agency. However, it could continue to influence attitudes, and provide more guidance to flag states in applying international standards. Fortunately, shipping is also ruled by the mighty dollar and if business is restrained or interrupted due to the regulatory standards developed by IMO the problems are often corrected quickly. Sources: Boisson, Philippe.

"Safety At Sea (Policies, Regulations & International Law), Bureau Veritas, Paris. 1999 IMO Web page, London. 2003 "IMO Regional Training Course on Flag State Implementation Curriculum", Singapore MPA, Singapore. 2002.