The Bahamas has become the 22nd Contracting State to the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks. High Commissioner H.E. Eldred Bethel, Permanent Representative of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to IMO, today (5 June) met IMO Secretary-General Sekimizu to deposit the instrument of accession to the Convention.
The Convention, which entered into force in April this year, places strict liability on owners for locating, marking and removing wrecks deemed to be a hazard and makes State certification of insurance, or other form of financial security for such liability, compulsory for ships of 300 gross tonnage and above. The 22 Contracting States now represent 37.64% of world merchant shipping tonnage.