Whats New 2017
Ballast Water Management treaty ratifications boost
This week has seen four more States become Party to IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, which enters into force on 8 September 2017. The Bahamas deposited its instrument of accession on Thursday (8 June), following accession by Singapore (8 June), ratification by Australia (7 June) and accession by United Arab Emirates (6 June). Saudi Arabia became a Party in April. This brings the number of States party to the BWM Convention to 59, representing 65.18 % of the world's merchant fleet tonnage. (See photos) more...
Saving marine ecosystems – the ballast water story
During the 20th century, tiny organisms carried in the ballast water of ships began to be recognized as alien invasive species. These aquatic species were hitching a ride across the oceans and some were embedding themselves in new areas, multiplying and becoming harmful invasive aquatic species. The impacts on native species, local ecosystems and sea-based economies have, in some cases, been devastating. The story of how global partnerships, governments, industry, academia and other stakeholders came together to tackle this problem is told in a new publication, The GloBallast Story, launched (6 June) at the UN Ocean Conference in New York. more...
Passenger ship safety amendments set for adoption
Revised safety requirements to ensure new-build passenger ships remain afloat after a major incident are among a set of amendments set for adoption by IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), which meets from 7-16 June. The revisions to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) chapter II-1, relating to subdivision and damage stability, follow a substantive review of SOLAS chapter II-1, focusing in particular on passenger ships. The MSC was opened by IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim and is being chaired by Mr. Brad Groves (Australia). (Click for photos.) more...
Cooperation on unsafe mixed migration by sea
IMO's work within the UN system on unsafe mixed migration by sea was part of discussions at an event* at London's Queen Mary University as part of the 2nd Annual Conference of the Refugee Law Initiative (6 June). The safety of life at sea and maritime search and rescue are key remits which fall within IMO's competence. more...
Kenya signs amendment to regional maritime piracy agreement
Kenya has become the 13th signatory* to the Jeddah Amendment
to the Djibouti
Code of Conduct – the instrument developed and adopted by countries in the
Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden that has been a key factor in repressing
piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in that region. more...
Connecting ships, ports and people for sustainable development
More efficient shipping, working in partnership with a port
sector supported by governments, will be a major driver towards global
stability and sustainable development for the good of all people. This was the
message of IMO’s Chris Trelawny in his speech to the European Sea Ports
Organisation’s annual conference
in Barcelona, Spain (1-2 June). more...
A game-changer for ocean health
Monday sees the opening of a historical United Nations
conference in New York that will set the course for implementation of the
ocean-related Goal 14 of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The Ocean
Conference (5-9 June) will feature a high-level plenary session, several “partnership
dialogues” and many more side events during which all aspects of SDG 14 and its
sub-targets will be analysed and discussed. more...
Learning how to combat organized crime at sea
Skills necessary in dealing with maritime transnational organised crimes at sea, including, piracy, armed robbery against ships, drug trafficking, marine terrorism and more were at the core of a two-week training course which concluded today in Mombasa, Kenya (22 May – 2 June 2017). The course was conducted under the auspices of the JeddahAmendment to Djibouti Code of Conduct 2017, as a joint initiative between the East African Standby Force (EASF), Nordic Advisory and Coordination Staff (NACS) and IMO. more...
Partnerships for protecting the marine environment
IMO’s highly successful
collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) to deliver
technical cooperation activities was in the spotlight in Oslo this week (30-31
May). In addition to the annual
IMO-Norad projects review meeting, IMO presented the Organization and its
technical cooperation programme to senior officials from Norwegian ministries
and NGOs*, highlighting in particular the IMO-Norad
East Asia Project, which helped build capacity to implement IMO
environment-protection conventions in six participating countries – with a view
to identifying further cooperation opportunities. more...