CMI Antwerp Conference

CMI Antwerp Conference 18-21 October 2022

Recorded message, Kitack Lim, IMO Secretary-General

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be able to address you today at the start of this conference celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of CMI. For more than a century, CMI has worked to promote the uniform application of international maritime law.

IMO cannot boast so long a heritage, but for over seven decades it has been the global standard-setting authority for safety, security, efficiency and environmental performance of international shipping, with a comprehensive body of international conventions.

They ensure the safety of ships and their navigation as well as of seafarers and passengers through global standards for ship design, construction, operation, and crewing. It also works to protect the marine environment. Our priorities also include liability and compensation, and we are constantly enhancing our safety-related instruments. CMI is a valued partner in our endeavours.

In the decades before IMO was established, CMI adopted a number of international treaty instruments to regulate global shipping. These notably included the 1910 Collision Convention, which established the rules for legal liability resulting from collisions of ships at sea, and the 1910 Salvage Convention. The Salvage Covnention now forms part of the body of treaties administered by IMO. 

The close cooperation between IMO and CMI dates back to 1967, when the Torrey Canyon oil tanker grounded off Southwestern England. Two years later, in 1969, the Civil Liability Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held in Brussels, thanks to continued joint efforts between our two organizations.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Civil Liability Convention was followed by the IOPC Fund Convention, which was adopted in 1971. Together, these form the cornerstone of IMO's liability and compensation regime governing spills of oil and other pollutants at sea.

Other liability and compensation conventions followed. In 1978, the Amoco Cadiz incident off the French coast led to another joint venture by IMO and CMI - the revision of the 1910 Salvage Convention, which was adopted in 1989. For the first time, it included provisions aimed at encouraging salvors to take the marine environment into account whenever conducting salvage operations, by ensuring that they receive financial compensation for their efforts.

I can point to many other results of our cooperation over the years. CMI has provided valuable input into developing the 1996 LLMC Protocol, the 2002 Athens Convention, the 2001 Bunkers Convention, the 2007 Wreck Removal Convention, as well as in relation to issues such as places of refuge for vessels in distress, fair treatment of seafarers and piracy and armed robbery at sea.

And still it goes on: CMI has supported more recent IMO efforts, including work on Marine Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) and support in developing the Unified Interpretation of the Test for Breaking the Shipowner's Right to Limit Liability, which was adopted by the IMO Assembly in 2021.

IMO also places particular value on the research CMI has undertaken over the years, giving us the benefit of expert maritime lawyers, both academic and practising, from the different legal systems of the world.

Ladies and gentlemen,

IMO is also guiding the future of shipping by addressing new challenges. IMO's current focus areas are supporting sustainable development by enhancing shipping's contribution to the global mission to combat climate change as well as to move towards a digital future by enhancing shipping's automation and digitalization.

If we are to succeed in our objectives to keep our seas clean and international shipping safe and secure, cooperation on the global level is essential. This makes the long-standing and close relationship between IMO and CMI even more important going forward as new challenges arise.

I recognise the immense contribution of the CMI to our vision of a safer, greener and more sustainable maritime future and I wish you a successful anniversary conference.

Thank you.