T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION

HIGH-SEAS BOARDING COVERED IN NEWLEGAL REGIME

FERRY SAFETY PROJECT GETSUNDERWAY

IMO CELEBRATES WORLD MARITIME DAY

I S S U E 3 . 2 0 0 4

I S S U E 4 . 2 0 0 5

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 3

IMO News • Issue 4 2005

Contents

The International MaritimeOrganization (IMO)4, Albert EmbankmentLondon SE1 7SRUKTel +44 (0)20 7735 7611Fax +44 (0)20 7587 3210Email (general enquiries)info@imo.org Website www.imo.org

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Copyright © IMO 2005

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Ref N054E

Arrangements for sensitivehigh-seas boarding

situations are covered inthe new SUA Convention

(see P.6)

IMO at Work

25 Towards a Maritime Knowledge Centre; IMO audit scheme receives financialboost

26 2004 International Maritime Prize goes to all-rounder from Mexico; IMOreceives training resource; Russia supports IMO maritime security trust fund

Meetings

9 Sub-Committee on Stability and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF) 48th session

11 Sub-Committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC) 10th session

Intelligence

6 Revised treaties to address unlaweful acts at sea adopted at internationalconference

8 Marine Electronic Highway demonstration project agreed in JakartaIMO/Interferry launch joint programme

Opinion

5 Shipping in the wider context; a message from IMO Secretary-GeneralEfthimios E. Mitropoulos

Features

14 Tanker safety record at all-time high

17 IMO hosts reception for World Maritime Day, 2005

Opinion

Message fromthe Secretary-GeneralMr. Efthimios Mitropoulos

Shipping in the wider context

Five years ago, the adoption of the MillenniumDeclaration by the UN General Assembly wasa defining moment for global co-operation in

the 21st Century. The Declaration sets out, within asingle framework, the key challenges facinghumanity at the threshold of the new millennium;outlines the response the world community shouldprovide to these challenges; and establishesconcrete measures for judging performance, whichaim to mobilise national and international partnersinto action and help to forge new alliances fordevelopment. It also provides a means forbenchmarking and for assessing progress in theprocess of achieving the set development.

The 2000 Summit, and the most recent one held inSeptember of 2005, both of which I had the privilegeto attend as the IMO representative, agreed and re-affirmed the eight Goals enshrined in theMillennium Declaration. They are specific in natureand visionary in their intent. But what is perhapsmost important and significant is that all the UnitedNations Member States have pledged to meet themby the Year 2015.

These Goals provide the world with time-bound andquantified targets for addressing extreme poverty inall its many dimensions – income poverty, hunger,disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion –while promoting gender equality, education andenvironmental sustainability and access for all toeducation, shelter and security.

Maritime activity has a key role to play in helpingthese objectives to be achieved, in particular that ofreducing poverty – from which many of the otherswill undoubtedly flow. It already provides animportant source of income to many developingcountries, through such activities as the registrationof ships, the supply of sea-going manpower and shiprecycling, as well as shipowning and operating,shipbuilding and repair and port services, amongothers.

Moreover, seen in a wider context, shipping has aneven more important role to play, in underpinningthe new global economy. Sea transport remains byfar the most cost-effective way to move goods andraw materials in quantity around the world and thevast majority of global trade – on which globalprosperity is dependent – is carried in ships.

As far as the environment is concerned, shippingand IMO are also making a notable contributionthanks to the comprehensive array of measuresdeveloped and adopted by IMO and put in place byits Members and by the maritime industry toimprove ship safety and thereby reduce accidents.Moreover, within its mandate, IMO has developedand adopted a wide range of international measuresdesigned to reduce the negative impact of shipping’severyday operations on the environment and,thereby, help promote environmental sustainabilityin that way.

There is no doubt that, overall, the world is makingprogress towards achieving many of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, although, as several Heads ofState or Government disconcertingly acknowledgedat last September’s World Summit, not currently atthe desirable rate that would ensure theachievement of the Goals by the 2015 deadline.

But we can draw inspiration from In Larger Freedom– Towards development, security and human rightsfor all, the comprehensive, all-embracing reportprepared by UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annanin March of this year, in preparation of the WorldSummit. In it, he said:

“Today’s is the first generation with the resourcesand the technology to make the right to developmenta reality for everyone and to free the entire humanrace from want. There is a shared vision ofdevelopment. The Millennium Development Goals,which range from halving extreme poverty to puttingall children into primary school and stemminginfectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, all by 2015,have become globally accepted benchmarks ofbroader progress, embraced by donors, developingcountries, civil society and major developmentinstitutions alike.”

And then, most tellingly, he added, “These goals canbe met by 2015 – but only if we break from ‘businessas usual’ and dramatically accelerate and scale upaction now.” Let us all follow that wise counsel andtry to ensure that, in this respect at least, it is nolonger ‘business as usual.’

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 5

Revised treaties to address unlawful actsat sea adopted at international conference

Intelligence

Amendments to the Convention for theSuppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA)

Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988and its related Protocol, which provide the legalbasis for action to be taken against personscommitting unlawful acts against the safety ofnavigation (and against fixed platforms locatedon the continental shelf), have been adopted bythe Diplomatic Conference on the Revision ofthe SUA Treaties.

The Conference, which met from 10 to 14October 2005 at IMO’s London Headquartersadopted the amendments in the form ofProtocols to the SUA treaties (the 2005Protocols).

The principal purpose of the SUA treaties is toensure that anyone committing unlawful actsagainst the safety of navigation will not be givenshelter in any country but will either beprosecuted or extradited to a State where theywill stand trial. The 2005 Protocols broaden thelist of offences made unlawful under the treaties,such as to include the offence of using a shipitself in a manner that causes death or seriousinjury or damage and the transport of weaponsor equipment that could be used for weapons ofmass destruction. The 2005 SUA Protocolintroduces provisions for the boarding of shipswhere there are reasonable grounds to suspectthat the ship or a person on board the ship is,has been, or is about to be involved in, thecommission of an offence under the Convention.

Speaking at the close of the Conference, IMOSecretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulossaid, “The adoption of these Protocols marksthe completion of the tasks set by the IMOAssembly in resolution A.924(22), aimed atensuring that the international maritime

community isproperly equipped tocounteract thegravest menace ithas ever faced.”

He added, “Theusual request forStates to becomeParties to any newIMO treaty is, in thecase of the twoProtocols adoptedtoday, an urgent

plea, the importanceof which, beyond any

doubt, is clearly understood by all. We arerunning a race against time in our efforts toprevent and suppress unlawful acts againstthe safety of maritime navigation and to bringto justice the perpetrators of the unlawful actscovered by the 2005 SUA Protocols. Earlyentry into force of the Protocols is thereforeof the essence. And, while early deposits ofinstruments of ratification will send a strongmessage that the maritime community iseager and willing to protect the industryagainst acts of terrorism, on the other hand,any delays in so doing will send a wrong

signal to all those who, at this time, areprofiting from the present legal vacuumwhich the Protocols aim to fill.”

The SUA treaties complement the practicalmaritime security measures adopted by IMO- including SOLAS chapter XI-2 (Specialmeasures to enhance maritime security) andthe International Ship and Port FacilitySecurity (ISPS) Code, which entered intoforce in July 2004 - in that they regulate thelegal situation in the unfortunate event that aterrorist attack should occur.

The Committee of theWhole was chaired byLegal Committee veteranAlfred Popp of Canada

6 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

How difficult was it for the LegalCommittee to come up with the draftProtocols and what were the keysensitivities that had to be addressed?

It was an unusually challenging process for anumber of reasons, but in particular becauseof the references in the new SUA Protocol tothe transport of nuclear materials. TheProtocol specifically refers, inter alia, to theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and thedifficulties were centred around the fact thatnot all States Party to theoriginal SUA Convention arealso signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. As aresult, some States were of theview that the Protocol shouldnot cover the carriage ofnuclear materials, while otherswere of the view that suchcoverage was essential, giventhe threat to world peace posedby such materials.

Why is it important to haveprovisions in the new SUAprotocol regarding the boarding of shipsat sea

There is clearly a growing desire on the part ofsome States, in the interests of their ownnational security, to board and search ships ofother States before such ships enter coastalwaters, in order to keep any potential threat asfar away as possible. Without a proper legalframework providing a sound legal basis forsuch boardings, and setting out what must bedone before a boarding occurs, there is huge

potential for a serious diplomatic incident oreven a more severe reaction to follow such aboarding incident. What the new SUA Protocoldoes is establish the legal right to board alongwith a clear set of procedures that ensure theflag state of the ship that has been boarded hasbeen fully consulted and has given itspermission, in accordance with establishedprinciples of international law.rocess.

When do we expect the new protocols toreach their entry-into-forcecriteria?

The amended Convention for theSuppression of Unlawful ActsAgainst the Safety of MaritimeNavigation will enter into forceninety days after the date onwhich twelve States have eithersigned it without reservation asto ratification, acceptance orapproval, or have deposited aninstrument of ratification,acceptance, approval or accessionwith the Secretary-General.

The amended Protocol requires ratification fromthree States which are also party to the SUAConvention but it cannot come into force unlessthe 2005 SUA Convention is already in force.

How long this process will take is, of course, inthe hands of the States themselves. But we arehopeful that because this instrument deals withsuch important issues, States will be able toratify and implement it as quickly as possible.To expedite the process, the instruments willbe open for signature from 14 February 2006.

IMO News asked Dr Rosalie Balkin, IMO’s Legal Director, to explainin more detail some of the complexities of the new SUA Protocols

Continued on Page 8

Developing the new protocolswas an unusually challengingprocess, according to IMO Legal Director Rosalie Balkin

8 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

An important milestone for the MarineElectronic Highway (MEH) has been

achieved with the signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding by the Governments ofIndonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and IMO toimplement an MEH Demonstration Project.The PoU was signed 8 September 2005 duringthe Jakarta Meeting on the Safety, Security andEnvironmental Protection of the Straits ofMalacca and Singapore.

The MEH Project, funded by the GlobalEnvironment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank,aims to develop a regional MEH in the Straits ofMalacca and Singapore. The MEH is envisagedas a marine information and infrastructuremechanism that integrates marine environmentprotection and management systems with state-of-the art maritime safety technologies forenhanced maritime services, improvednavigational safety, integrated marineenvironment protection and sustainabledevelopment of the coastal and marine resources.

This latest MoU provides a framework forparticipation, collaboration, commitment and

Marine Electronic Highwaydemonstration project agreedin Jakarta

IMO/Interferry launch joint programme

co-operation in the implementation of ademonstration project in the Straits. Acomplementary Memorandum onarrangements to implement specific activitiescovered under Article IV of the MoU tosupport, promote and collaborate to implementthe project was also signed by the three littoralStates, IMO, IHO, INTERTANKO and ICS.

The signing of the two agreements isenvisaged to usher in concrete action towardsresponding to the new challenges in maritimesafety, security and environmental protection inthe Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

The total cost of the MEH DemonstrationProject will be some US$17 million, with theGEF/World Bank providing a grant of US$8.3million to implement various activities todevelop and establish a pilot MEH system inthe Straits including the recruitment of staffand consultants, acquisition of maritimefacilities for Indonesia, conduct ofhydrographic survey, financial feasibility andinstitutional assessment.

A programme designed to reducedramatically the number of deaths in

developing world ferries has been launched byIMO in co-operation with Interferry, the tradeassociation for the worldwide ferry industry.

The two Orgainzations are to work together ona joint 10-year project which aims to reduceferry fatalities by 90 per cent. Currently morethan 1,000 people lose their lives in third worldferry accidents every year.

The project will involve the formation of specialworking groups to provide practical input incountries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia,Somalia and Senegal and plans are now beingfinalised with the IMO technical co-operationdivision for a workshop in Bangladesh early in2006 to launch a pilot scheme in co-operationwith the government.

Overcrowding, weather and collisions arerecognised as primary causes of most fatalaccidents, compounded by a lack of regulationsor enforcement on such matters as vesseldesign, maintenance and crew training. Under

the proposals national working groups will beestablished with Interferry and IMO expertsjoining government agencies, operators,unions, trade groups and other parties toidentify and implement solutions and lines ofresponsibility.

The initiatives havebeen fully supported byIMO secretary generalEfthimios Mitropouloseven though many ofthese ferry accidentsinvolve non-conventiondomestic craft that falloutside the mandate ofthe international body.Speaking at Interferry’s30th anniversaryconference in Greeceearlier this year, hesaid, “IMO has alreadypromoted thedevelopment, adoption

and implementation of safety codes for non-convention vessels in Asia and the Pacific,Africa, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean,and will continue to explore initiatives to assistcountries in avoiding future tragedies.”

The two protocols were developed by IMO’sLegal Committee and are aimed at ensuringthat the legal framework put in place by IMOcontinues to provide an adequate basis for thearrest, detention, extradition and punishmentof terrorists acting against shipping or fixedplatforms or when using ships to perpetrateacts of terrorism.

The amended Convention for the Suppressionof Unlawful Acts Against the Safety ofMaritime Navigation will enter into forceninety days after the date on which twelveStates have either signed it withoutreservation as to ratification, acceptance orapproval, or have deposited an instrument ofratification, acceptance, approval or accessionwith the Secretary-General. The amendedProtocol requires ratification from three Stateswhich are also party to the SUA Conventionbut it cannot come into force unless the 2005SUA Convention is already in force.

The Diplomatic Conference on the Revisionof the SUA Treaties was attended byrepresentatives of 74 States Parties to theConvention for the Suppression of UnlawfulActs against the Safety of MaritimeNavigation, 70 States Parties to the Protocolfor the Suppression of Unlawful Acts againstthe Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on theContinental Shelf, one Associate Member ofIMO; and observers from fourintergovernmental organizations and ninenon-governmental internationalorganizations.

Continued from Page 6

Ferries that normally fall outside the scope of IMO Conventions will be targeted in therecemtly-launched joint IMO/Interferry project

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 9

SLF begins work to develop standards forsafety of small fishing vessels

48th session •12-16 September 2005 •

Sub-Committee on Stability and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF) • From the meetings

The development of safety standards forsmall fishing vessels was initiated at the

Sub-Committee on Stability and Load Linesand on Fishing Vessels Safety when it met forits 48th session.

The proposed safety standards wouldcomplement the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO)/International LabourOrganization (ILO)/IMO Code of Safety forFishermen and Fishing Vessels, 2005, and theVoluntary Guidelines for the Design,Construction and Equipment of Small FishingVessels, 2005 which were approved by theMaritime Safety Committee (MSC) at its 79thsession in December 2004 and subsequentlyapproved by the FAO and ILO. Part B of theCode of Safety for Fishermen and FishingVessels applies to vessels of 24 metres inlength and over while the Voluntary Guidelinesapply to decked fishing vessels of 12 m inlength and over but less than 24 m in length.

Commercial fishing is one of the mosthazardous occupations in the world and it hasbeen estimated by ILO, and reported by FAO,that the fishing industry suffers in excess of24,000 fatalities per year and that the largemajority of them occur on small fishing vessels.Currently, there are no international safetystandards in place for decked fishing vessels ofless than 12 m in length and undecked fishingvessels of any size and in many countries,national regulations, guidelines or standardsfor small fishing vessels are either non-existentor inappropriate.

The proposed standards for fishing vesselsbelow 12 m in length and undecked fishingvessels of any size would address the safety

concerns specific to these vessels. It isanticipated that the standards would primarilybe used by the relevant competent authoritiesto upgrade their national laws and regulations.

The Sub-Committee noted that, in somecountries, the safety of small fishing vesselsis delegated to bodies other than themaritime authority, such as the ministries offisheries or agriculture, and recommendedthat Member States ensure the involvementof all appropriate bodies concerned withfishing vessel safety in the development ofthe new standards.

The work will be continued at the nextsession of the SLF Sub-Committee.Meanwhile, a correspondence group hasbeen tasked with examining existing regionaland national safety standards for smallfishing vessels and developing a consolidateddraft text of the safety standards for smallfishing vessels covering decked fishingvessels of less than 12 m in length andundecked fishing vessels of any length, forconsideration at the next session.

Development of explanatorynotes for the revised SOLASchapter II-1

The Sub-Committee progressed thedevelopment of explanatory notes on theapplication of the provisions in the revisedSOLAS chapter II-1 (which was adopted by theMSC in May 2005). The revision of SOLASchapter II-1 harmonizes the provisions onsubdivision and damage stability for passengerand cargo ships. The revised provisions inparts A, B and B-1 will be applicable to new

ships built after the expected entryinto force date of 1 January 2009.

The amendments, which havebeen intensively developed overthe past decade, are based on the“probabilistic” method ofdetermining damage stability,which is itself based on thedetailed study of data collected byIMO relating to collisions. Becauseit is based on statistical evidenceconcerning what actually happenswhen ships collide, the probabilisticconcept is believed to be far morerealistic than the previously-used“deterministic” method.

The development of the explanatory notes willbe further advanced intersessionally by acorrespondence group with a view to finalizingInterim Explanatory Notes at SLF 49.

Review of the Intact StabilityCode

The Sub-Committee continued itscomprehensive review of the Code on IntactStability for all Types of Ships covered byIMO Instruments. The Code was adopted in1993 by resolution A.749 and later amendedby the MSC in 1998. The review will, in theshort term, allow for the development ofamendments to the Code to bring it up todate and, in the long term, allow for thepreparation of performance-based stabilitycriteria to replace the existing prescriptiveprovisions.

The Intact Stability Correspondence Groupwas reinstated to review the text of the draftrevised Code and to report to SLF 49. TheCorrespondence Group is also tasked withpreparing a draft revised text ofMSC/Circ.707 on Guidance to the master foravoiding dangerous situations in followingand quartering seas.

Review of the OSV guidelines

The Sub-Committee finalised the revisedGuidelines for the Design and Construction ofOffshore Supply Vessels (originally adoptedby resolution A.469(XII)) and forwarded theproposed text to the Dangerous Goods, SolidCargoes and Containers (DSC) Sub-Committee for finalization and submission tothe MSC for adoption.

Review of the LHNSGuidelines

The review of the Guidelines for thetransport and handling of limited amounts ofhazardous and noxious liquid substances inbulk on offshore support vessels (previously(resolution A.673(16)) was also finalized andforwarded to the DSC Sub-Committee forfinalization and submission to the MSC andMarine Environment Protection Committee(MEPC) for adoption, taking into account thecomments by the BLG Sub-Committee.

Passenger ship safety

Issues relating to the holistic overview ofpassenger ship safety were reviewed by the

The meeting began work on the development of safety standards forsmall fishing vessels. The proposed safety standards wouldcomplement the FAO/ILO/IMO Code of Safety for Fishermen andFishing Vessels and the Voluntary Guidelines for the Design,Construction and Equipment of Small Fishing Vessels which wereapproved by the MSC in December 2004 and subsequently approvedby FAO and ILO (pic: ILO)

• 48th session

• 12-16 September 2005

10 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

From the meetings • Sub-Committee on Stability and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF)

working group on subdivision and damagestability. The guiding philosophy for the workon passenger ship safety is based on thepremise that the regulatory frameworkshould place more emphasis on theprevention of a casualty from occurring in thefirst place and that future passenger shipsshould be designed for improvedsurvivability so that, in the event of acasualty, persons can stay safely on board asthe ship proceeds to port.

In relation to the work on Casualty thresholdfor return to port and casualty scenario forthe time for orderly evacuation andabandonment, the Sub-Committee endorsedthe group’s recommendation to developmandatory requirements for water ingressdetection and continuous flooding levelmonitoring systems, taking into account bestindustry practice, with a view to providingthe master with real time information on theprogression of flooding.

The Sub-Committee agreed modifications tothe draft amendments to SOLAS chapter II-2on the functional requirements for safe areas,to include flooding issues. It was also agreedthat references to flooding detection systems,if installed, as well as bilge systems, should beincluded in the draft performance standardsfor essential systems and equipment onpassenger ships for safe return to port after acasualty, which were developed by the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE).

The work on reviewing passenger ship safetywas initiated by the MSC in 2000 with varioustasks assigned to the different Sub-Committees.

A correspondence group was established to

develop criteria for safereturn to port, eitherunder own power or undertow, and to preparemandatory requirementsfor water ingress detectionand flooding levelmonitoring systems, aheadof the next SLF Sub-Committee session.

Revision of the technicalregulations of the 1966 LLConvention

The Sub-Committee agreed draft amendmentsto Annex B to the 1988 LL Protocol, relating toregulations 22(4), to correct a paragraphreference, and 39(1) relating to the depth inthe bow height formula, for submission toMSC 81 in mid-2006 for approval, with a viewto adoption at MSC 82.

Review of the 2000 HSCCode

The Sub-Committee agreed proposedamendments to the 2000 International Codeof Safety for High-Speed Craft (2000 HSCCode), relating to buoyancy, stability andsubdivision; remote control, alarm and safetysystems; stability of multihull craft; andstability of monohull craft. It forwarded themto the DE Sub-Committee which is co-ordinating the HSC Code review.

Tonnage measurement ofopen-top containerships

The Sub-Committee agreed to amend theprovisional formulae for reduced grosstonnage (GT) for open-top containerships

prescribed in TM.5/Circ.4, which was issuedin 1993, to give a preliminary IMO formulato be used for the calculation of grosstonnage for open-top containerships of up to30,000 gross tonnage, under theInternational Convention on TonnageMeasurement of Ships, 1969. The Sub-Committee noted submissions stating theformula needed amending to allow for open-top containerships without defining alimitation in size. It was agreed that aCorrespondence Group should prepare arevised TM.5 circular to include amendedformulae.

Safety aspects of ballastwater management

The Sub-Committee agreed to recommend tothe MSC that no transitory deviation fromsafety standards should be permitted duringballast water exchange and invited the MEPCto note the Sub-Committee’srecommendation.

The recommendation followed a request bythe MEPC to confirm the acceptability (orotherwise) of transitory non-compliance withsafety regulations when conducting ballastwater exchange.

Offshore supply vessels were the subject of discussion at SLF

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 11

TThe draft revised text of MARPOL AnnexIII Prevention of pollution by packaged

harmful substances was agreed by the Sub-Committee on Dangerous Goods at its 10thsession, for submission to the MarineEnvironment Protection Committee (MEPC54) in spring 2006 for approval andsubsequent adoption at MEPC 55.

The aim of the revision of Annex III is toharmonize the regulations alongside those inthe IMDG Code with the criteria for definingmarine pollutants which have been adoptedby the UN Transport of Dangerous Goods(TDG) Sub-Committee based on the GloballyHarmonized System of Classification andLabelling of Chemicals (GHS). The criteriaare deemed to be appropriate for thetransport of packaged goods.

Consequential amendments to the InternationalMaritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Codewere also developed and agreed. Theproposed timetable for adoption, acceptanceand entry into force would see the new AnnexIII and related IMDG Code amendments enterinto force on 1 January 2010.

Amendment 33-06 to IMDGCode approved

The Sub-Committee approved draftamendments to the IMDG Code(Amendment 33-06), for submission to theMaritime Safety Committee (MSC 81) foradoption.

• The amendments include those intended toreflect the decisions of the UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport ofDangerous Goods (UN SCOE), which heldits twenty-seventh session in July 2005.

The Sub-Committee also approved errata andcorrigenda to the IMDG Code, amendment32-04, to be issued before they take effect on1 January 2006.

Mandatory BC Code –progress made

Progress was made on the preparation of themandatory Code of Safe Practice for SolidBulk Cargo (BC Code), as well as thedevelopment of draft amendments to SOLASchapters VI and VII on making the Codemandatory. A correspondence group wasestablished to work intersessionally. The

proposed timetable would see themandatory BC Code and SOLASamendments adopted in 2008, with entryinto force in 2011.

The Sub-Committee agreed to include aschedule for direct reduced iron (DRI) finesin the revised BC Code and in the meantimeapproved a DSC circular on Accidentsinvolving transport of direct reduced ironfines. The circular alerts Administrationsand other parties concerned about thedangers involved in loading, unloading andtransporting this product.

Review of the OSV and LHNSguidelines

The Sub-Committee continued the revisionof the Guidelines for the Design andConstruction of Offshore Supply Vessels(resolution A.469(XII)) and the Guidelinesfor the transport and handling of limitedamounts of hazardous and noxious liquidsubstances in bulk on offshore supportvessels (LHNS guidelines, resolutionA.673(16)). A Correspondence Group wasestablished to prepare the final draft text ofthe revised OSV Guidelines; to prepare aconsolidated set of amendments to theLHNS Guidelines; and to consider includinga reference to Guidelines for vessels withdynamic positioning systems(MSC/Circ.645) in the Code of Safe Practicefor the Carriage of Cargoes and Persons byOffshore Supply Vessels (OSV Code).

Extension of the BLU Code toinclude grain

Work commenced onrevising the Code ofPractice for the safeunloading and loadingof bulk carriers(resolution A.862(20) -the BLU Code) toextend its provisions toships carrying grains.A correspondencegroup was establishedto continue the workintersessionally,including developingconsequentialamendments to theManual on loading and

unloading of solid bulk cargoes for terminalrepresentatives and SOLAS chapter VI.

Preventing accidents duringsecuring of containers –guidance in development

A correspondence group was established todevelop guidance on providing safe workingconditions for securing of containers, toprevent accidents while undertaking lashingand securing tasks.

The correspondence group has been taskedwith identifying best design practice andcriteria for existing and new container ships toensure suitable and safe cargo securingaccess; considering how cargo securingprocedures can be improved; identifyimprovements to be made to containerships’cargo securing manuals and cargo lashingplans; establishing any additionalrequirements needed for conventional bulkand general cargo ships used to carrycontainers; considering new criteria andstandards to be included in the Code of SafePractice for Cargo Securing; and reviewingthe Recommendations on safety of personnelduring container securing operations(MSC/Circ.886).

Carriage of dangerous goodson HSC – amendments to HSCCode agreed

Draft amendments to the 2000 HSC Coderelevant to the carriage of dangerous goodson high-speed craft were reviewed andapproved, for referral to the Sub-Committee

10th session •26-30 October 2005 •

Sub-Committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC) • From the meetings

DSC agrees revised MARPOL Annex III

Revised guidelines for the design and construction of offshore supply vessels will befinalised by a correspondence group (pic: Farstad)

12 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

From the meetings • Sub-Committee on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC)

• 10th session:

• 26-30 October 2005

on Ship Design andEquipment (DE) Sub-Committee which isco-ordinatingamendments to the2000 HSC Code.

The proposedamendments includemaking the IMDGCode mandatory forhigh-speed craft andrequirements for theprotective clothing tobe carried on boardto be selected bytaking into account

the hazards associated with the chemicals being transported.

Courses on the implementation of the IMDG Code

The Sub-Committee noted that many people had benefited from training inimplementation of the IMDG Code worldwide, under the Organization’sprogramme on enhancement of maritime safety. Since April 2002, ten regionaland seven national courses on the implementation of the IMDG Code havebeen delivered and one regional course, in the Caribbean, was scheduled forNovember 2005. Overall, some 632 participants from 122 countries will havebenefited from these programmes.

Container inspections – concern over high rate ofdeficiencies

The Sub-Committee expressed its concern about the high rate ofdeficiencies found during container inspections and lack of adherence tothe provisions of the IMDG Code - especially in the areas of placarding andmarking, and documentation. Reports from Member Governments oncontainer inspections showed that of 7,301 cargo transport units inspected,1,928 were found deficient with 2,975 deficiencies, giving a high ratio of26.4% of cargo transport units inspected having deficiencies.

The Sub-Committee noted that inspections of outbound cargo transportunits contributed towards the safety of the ship, and endorsed the need forimproved training of shore-based personnel involved in the handling ofdangerous goods.

Disposal of fumigants – draft circular agreed

The Sub-Committee agreed a draft MSC/MEPC circular on Disposal offumigants which recommends that Member Governments issue regulationsto oblige ships that carry solid cargoes requiring fumigation to ensure thatall waste and residues of fumigants are disposed of in appropriate manner,either by incineration or by disposal on shore, as recommended by themanufacturer. The draft circular follows a report into the discharge of activepackages of the cargo fumigant magnesium phosphide in New Zealand’smarine waters. While there appeared to be no prohibition on the dischargeof such material pursuant under existing marine pollution preventionconventions, the discharge of active packages producing phosphine gasrepresented a significant risk to the public who may encounter them at sea.

Work commenced on revising the Code of Practice for thesafe unloading and loading of bulk carriers (the BLU Code)to cover ships carrying grain

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 13

PORT STATE CONTROLLONDON, 3 –13 April 2006

This widely recognised and practical intensive course is now in its 18th successive year. The course is designed especially forofficials in national marine departments, port or terminal operators, ship managers and shipowners.

The course covers in detail the major IMO conventions and codes along with other relevant international regulations andconventions, inspection systems and documentation. Special sections of the course concentrate on the ISPS code.

The Course is taught by an experienced team of academics and practitioners from the UK, USA and Europe.

Venue: Senate House, University of London

Fees: Sterling £2,650

The course is conducted by the Centre for Maritime Co-operation of the International Chamber of Commerce. Further details can be obtained from:

Miss Angeles Aguado, Course Co-ordinator

ICC Centre for Maritime Co-operation, Maritime House, 1 Linton Road, Barking, Essex IG11 8HG, United Kingdom

Tel: + 44 20 8591 3000 Fax: + 44 20 8594 2833 E-mail cmc@icc-ccs.org Web www.icc-ccs.org

14 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

Tanker safety record at all-time high

The above discussion, points to two distinct fundamentalquestions. Firstly, how safe does society want shipping tobe, and what is the acceptable cost for the safety ofmaritime transport?

Addressing the first question explicitly could be the coresubject of some influential research. The second question,which is closer to the focus of this article, is whetherregulating against the apparent causes of single accidentsshould remain the way forward for much longer.

Basic commonsense suggests that regulations should beproactive and should address trends in accidents ratherthan single events.

The above issues are long-term challenges for members ofIMO, who have already turned some of their commonefforts towards the “holistic approach”. A major example ofthis new thinking is the Formal Safety Assessmentmethodology that has been tried in recent occasions andwhich is still evolving. A further major example is thecurrent development of Goal-Based New Ship ConstructionStandards.

With this general background, a three-year collaborativeproject was initiated in January 2004 to research thedevelopment of a rational methodology for the assessmentof pollution risk from oil tankers.

The European Commission provided funding underFramework Programme 6 for the project, which is entitledPollution Prevention and Control — Safe Transportation ofHazardous Goods by Tankers. The project broughttogether 15 organisations from the European maritimesector with expertise in maritime safety covering design,construction, classification, and operational aspects. IMOparticipates as an observer.

The methodology being developed by the POP&C partnersis a probabilistic framework for the assessment of the

likelihood and quantity ofspillage following anypotential incident leading toloss of watertight integrity.The Aframax class of tanker(80,000 to 120,000 dwttonnes) was used to developand demonstrate themethodology, as this is themost populous class ofinternationally trading largeoil tankers.

Six casualty categories wereidentified as the key hazardsleading to loss of watertightintegrity, namely: collision,contact, grounding, non-

FOR some time the shipping industry has felt a burdenof over-regulation. Operators of ships struggle to keep

up with what they see as a relentless stream of newrequirements which invariably necessitate the procurementof new and sometimes untested equipment, the incrementaltraining of seagoing personnel with all the difficulties thisentails, the introduction of new operational procedures, andnew shipboard manuals.

In some less frequent but very significant cases newrequirements call for changes in the ships’ structuraldesign. And, while ship operators can only hope that thepace of new regulations will one day slow down, seniorregulators often complain that the industry complies withnew regulations but without embracing their spirit.

At the same time there is widespread agreement that whatis needed is firmer implementation of existing regulations.Nevertheless, the occurrence of a major accident in thewaters of a developed country often leads to thecommencement of new regulatory initiatives, the mostdemanding of these initiatives imposing expenditures ofmagnitudes that can bankrupt otherwise solvent shippingcompanies.

In a mature society such low tolerance should necessitatethe adoption of rational and generally trusted mechanismsfor testing the veracity of the claims of added value for eachof the contemplated new regulations.

A further perception has been that the safety record ofshipping has progressively improved over at least the lasttwo decades. This perception, however, appears to berestricted to industry circles and does not seem to havereached the mind of the wider consuming public, which isthe ultimate beneficiary of inexpensive and arguably safemaritime transport. And, of course, if the public does notvalue a service, neither does the average politician.

New research shows a dramatic reduction in the number of maritime casualties over the past 25 years. But how much can this be attributed to the plethora of new regulations introduced over the period? Project co-ordinator Dr Nikos Mikelis* discusses the work.

Features • Tanker safety record at all-time high

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 15

World Maritime Day • Features

accidental structural failure, fire andexplosion. Operational pollution and pollutionresulting from failures of hull fittings wereleft outside the scope of the project.

In the first instance an historic analysis forthe period 1978 to 2003 was performed usingaccident and incident data obtained fromLloyd’s Marine Information Service and fromLloyds’ Register-Fairplay.

This data was re-analysed by a team ofPOP&C project partners into a database,structured so as to allow the population ofFault Trees and Event Trees and whicheventually would provide values of relativerisk for each basic event that can cause anaccident. The historic records also provided avariety of parameters relevant to the analysis,such as hull type, age of ship, severity ofaccident, geographic location and weather.

As part of the historic analysis a comparisonwas drawn between the pollutionperformance of the main four hullconfigurations (single hull, double hull,

double bottom and double sided tankers). Itis planned to publish these results.

Ongoing work will aim to develop aprobabilistic analysis of the pollution outcomefrom all relevant potential incidents ontankers of any given configuration. It ishoped that correlation and calibration of theprobabilistic methodology against the resultsof the historic analysis will provide a tool forrealistic predictions of the pollution potentialof different designs.

A most notable result from the historicanalysis of casualties is the striking decline inthe frequency of all casualty categories. Bydividing the number of annual casualties ineach category by the fleet at risk in eachyear, the accompanying graphs show theannual frequencies of occurrence. Whereasthe curves depicting the annual frequenciesshow some oscillatory behaviour, whichreflects the relatively random nature ofcasualties, and the herein selected yearlytime increment, nevertheless there is anunmistakable, consistent and sharp

improvement of the casualtyfrequencies over the periodexamined.

The curves show that theaveraged frequency rates forall categories of accidents forthe period 1978-1990 werereduced to about one eighthin the last five-year period1999-2003. In other words,the frequency of casualtieshas reduced in the period

examined by nearly an order of magnitude.

It is relevant to note that similar trends havebeen demonstrated for the Suezmax tankerfleet in an analysis conducted by the ShipDesign Laboratory of the National TechnicalUniversity of Athens. And, whereas it can beargued that the frequency of casualties wastoo high in the 1970s and 1980s, theimprovement that has taken place since thenmust be recognised as remarkable.

While initially the POP&C project did notplan to identify any underlying causesresponsible for changes in the historic safetyrecord, three of the research partners lookedfor these causes among new regulations andindustry initiatives introduced during theperiod of the analysis. For the sake of space,the presentation of the six casualty categorieshave been combined into three groups:navigational casualties (collisions,groundings and contacts), fire andexplosions, and structural failures (non-accidental structural failures). A fuller

version of this analysis can befound at www.pop-c.org/news/documents/TheInfluenceofRegulations.doc.

The resulting three graphsidentify the introduction ofkey regulations that could beresponsible for the decliningtrends of accident/incidentrates. It should be noted thatthe focus here is onregulations that preventaccidents, and not onregulations which mitigateconsequences. Also, theinterpretation as to whichaccident categories are

16 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

affected by each regulation is to some degreesubjective.

Finally it is noted that the research has not asyet considered the effect of the changing ageprofile of the fleet, particularly in the varioushull types. It is well known that middle-agedships suffer higher casualty rates, and it is afact that the average age of the Aframax fleethas been reducing for some time.

On the face of the evidence shown in thegraphs, it may be concluded that it isimpossible to correlate with any certainty,individual regulatory actions with decreasesin the frequency of casualties. In fact, some ofthe regulatory actions coincide with accidentpeaks, whereas others do so with troughs.

Of course any particular regulatory actionmust lead the change in the frequency ofcasualties attributed to the action by a certainperiod, which may in turn be a function ofmany different factors.

If we look at the results collectively, we cansafely conclude that the downward trend inall categories of casualties is due to acombination of factors, including regulatoryactions and perhaps due to an increase in thenumber of safety conscious operators. Butthen again, attributing some of theimprovement to an increased safety culture isthe same as recognizing that the industry hasbeen embracing the spirit of new regulations.

The improvement in the safety record of thetanker fleet examined could be interpreted asjustification for what has been described as arelentless barrage of new requirements.However, the authors would instead suggestthat not all regulations are cost-effective.

Without a rational methodology with which toevaluate areas in need for improvement andareas where improvement is marginal andtherefore not justified, the simple danger is thatmaritime transport will become less efficientand more expensive than it needs to be.

The ideal of risk-basedregulation is that thecost being introducedis weighed against thereduction inconsequences, and by“consequences” weneed to consider avector sum of livessaved, pollution

averted and property not damaged.And this is not too different from theintent of proper Formal SafetyAssessment.

The final graph compares measures ofearnings and safety. Earnings areexpressed in terms of Worldscale forfive representative Aframax routes andhave been obtained from Clarksons’Shipping Intelligence Network 2005.The graph indicates a trend of overallimprovements in both earnings andsafety. However, on closer examinationit appears in the short cycles,increases in earnings are quiteconsistently accompanied by increasesin incident rates (i.e. accompanied byreductions in safety).

This is consistent with the generallyheld understanding that higher marketslead to higher incident rates (becauseships are being “driven harder”).

We can therefore conclude that thesafety recordimprovement achievedby the tanker industryis even moreremarkable whenconsidering that it hastaken place in a periodof overall improvedearnings.

Research for this articlewas carried out by SeverineDelautre of the ResearchDepartment of BureauVeritas, by EleftheriaEliopoulou of the ShipDesign Laboratory,National TechnicalUniversity of Athens and byNikos Mikelis.

* Mikelis Consulting

Features • Tanker safety record at all-time high

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 17

IMO hosts reception forWorld Maritime Day, 2005

Every year, the International Maritime Organization and its MemberStates and Associate Members celebrate World Maritime Day, taking

the opportunity to bring the objectives and achievements of theOrganization to the attention of a wider audience and, at the same time,increase overall public awareness of the vital role that the shippingindustry plays in all our lives.

This year, as usual, IMO headquarters in London was the venue for aWorld Maritime Day reception for dignitaries from the shipping anddiplomatic communities

H.E. Mr. Aurimas Taurantas, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Mr. Isaac Osei, High Commissioner of Ghana, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

Mrs. B. de Cabezas, H.E. Mr. Eduardo Cabezas, Ambassador of Ecuador,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Mr. Jihad Mortada, Ambassador of Lebanon, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

Mrs. C. Mitropoulos, H.E. Mr. Anastase Scopelitis, Ambassador andPermanent Representative of Greece to IMO, The Right Reverend Bishop ofNazianzou, Mr. Theodoritos

18 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

The Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Mrs. Daphne Marchant, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Mr. Nick Cutmore, Secretary General of IMPA, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos andfamily, Mrs. Cutmore

Captain Len Holder, Chairman, Videotel Marine International Ltd, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Dr. Stephen Ladyman, UK Minister for Transport, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

Mr. W.A. O'Neil, CM, CMG, Secretary-General Emeritus of IMO, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos and family

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 19

Greek group, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and familyMr. Lorenzo Mayol, IMO staff, Mrs. Jenny Kafati de Mayol, Alternate PermanentRepresentative of Honduras to IMO, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Mr. Michael Grey, MBE, Ms. Sandra Speares, Lloyd's List, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos and family

Mr. Chris Horrocks, Secretary-General of ICS, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos andfamily, Mrs. Peter Swift, Mr. Peter Swift, Managing Director, INTERTANKO

H.E. Mr. António Gumende, High Commissioner of the Republic ofMozambique, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Commander Carlos Ríos, Permanent Representative of Chile to IMO,Captain Juan Heusser, former Permanent Representative of Chile to IMO,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

20 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

H.E. Mr. Khaled Al-Duwaisan, GCVO, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Dr. Alyaksei Mazhukhou, Ambassador of Belarus, Mrs. Mazhukhou,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Dr. Mohammad Hossein Adeli, Ambassador and PermanentRepresentative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to IMO, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos and family, Mr. Hosseinali Ali Gholizadeh, Deputy PermanentRepresentative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to IMO, members of thedelegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Rev. Canon Bill Christianson, Secretary General of The Mission toSeafarers, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Mr. Christopher Hayman, Managing Director, The Seatrade Organisation,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 21

Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos, Capt. James J. McNamara, President,National Cargo Bureau Inc.

Mr. A.S. Nunn OBE, IUMI, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos

Latin American group

H.E. Mr. Petros Eftychiou, High Commissioner and Permanent Representative ofCyprus to IMO, Mr. E.E Mitropoulos and family

Captain Armett Hill, Acting Permanent Representative of Liberia to IMO,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

22 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

Captain (HCG) N. Nesteroulis, Technical MaritimeAttaché, Greek Embassy, Mrs. Nesteroulis, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos

Mr. Richard Leslie, Permanent Secretary, IACS, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos

Mr. T. Allan, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to IMO,Mrs. Allan, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Mr. Edgardo B. Espiritu, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of theRepublic of the Philippines to IMO, Mrs. Espiritu, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Mr. Trevor Evans, Permanent Representative of the United States to IMO,Mrs. Evans, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 23

Mr. Fikret Hakgüden, Expert Counsellor, AlternatePermanent Representative of Turkey to IMO, Mr. E.E.Mitropoulos

H.E. Dr. Carl B.W. Roberts, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda,Mrs. Roberts, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Mr. L.C. Vassallo, Permanent Representative of Maltato IMO, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Captain Eduardo Castro Rivas, Alternate Permanent Representative of Argentinato IMO, Mrs. Castro, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

Mr. M. Jacobsson, Director, IOPCFS, Mrs. Jacobsson, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

24 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

Mr. E.E. Embiricos, Chairman, Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family, Commodore Ioannis Kontoyannis,Director, Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee

H.E. Mr. Basil G. O'Brien, CMG, High Commissioner and PermanentRepresentative of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to IMO,Mrs. O'Brien, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

H.E. Mr. Mel Cappe, High Commissioner of Canada, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

H.E. Mr. Gehad Madi, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt,Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

IMO Interns, Ms. Rouba Ruthnum, IMO staff, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulosand family

IMO External Relations Office, Mr. E.E. Mitropoulos and family

www.imo.org. No.4 2005 IMO NEWS 25

IMO at work

When the (then) IMCO Library wasoriginally set up for the Secretariat in 1959,

its function was to build and maintain a Libraryfor the Organization that would contain a small,authoritative collection of books, periodicals anddocuments relating to maritime safety andprevention of pollution from ships. Since then,this quiet but extremely busy section of theSecretariat grown to become a dynamic,technology-based information centre serving awide customer base, both internal and external.

Along with other sections of the IMO secretariat,the Library, part of the External Relations Office,is currently exploring issues surrounding thetransformation of IMO from a rule-basedOrganization to a “knowledge-sharing” one. Theintention is to make knowledge management anoperational reality by capturing currentlyavailable expertise and combining such factorsas databases, web site interfaces and documentsand existing knowledge infrastructure with aview to enhancing the visibility of knowledge,sharing knowledge in-house and with externalstakeholders and capturing “tacit” knowledgeand staff experience.

With its expert knowledge of informationsources and resources the Library has laid thefoundations for ‘InfoGate’, a virtual gateway tosources and resources. The final design andstructure of InfoGate has yet to be finalisedbut the first phase - “How and where to findIMO Information” is established and helps theuser to navigate through the often complexworld of IMO information.

The core source for various products availableon the Information Resources Section of theIMO website is an online catalogue,SeaLibrary. Since June 1991, all bibliographicrecords for books, conference proceedings,articles and videos (altogether more than70,000 records) are searchable electronicallyon SeaLibrary. Many significant IMOdocuments are also catalogued and it isintended that the second phase of developmentwill see the hyper-linking of the reference tothe document itself.

The Library is also participating in Pharos, aproject to develop a Union Catalogue ofMaritime Libraries. Pharos will constitute aglobal portal of maritime bibliographical

information containing a referenceto the location of each item, withsome full-text access and inter-Library loan agreements.Discussions are taking place withthe Arab Academy of Science andTechnology and MaritimeTransport in Egypt) and the WorldMaritime University in Sweden.

Since 1991, the Library has beenproducing a monthly CurrentAwareness Bulletin, featuringmaritime news headlines from thepast month, together with anabstract; the Bulletin is sent in

print-form to over 200 subscribers, mainly indeveloping countries and in electronic form toover 500 subscribers. All items can beretrieved through SeaLibrary.

Staying tuned with developments at IMO and inthe industry has enabled the Library to developsome very successful products such as the“Information Resources on…” series. Typically,these include a list of IMO documents, circulars(with link to full text), publications, articles and

news from non-IMO sources. They have beenparticularly helpful to researchers and studentswho find a large part of their references readymade. Topics such as maritime security, piracy,double hull/single hull issues, fair treatment ofseafarers, ISM Code and places of refuge haveall been covered.

A large part of the Library responsibility is toprovide a news intelligence service bymonitoring worldwide events daily, capturinginformation from the shipping press andnewswires and disseminating it daily withinthe secretariat and regional offices. Majorcasualties and pollution incidents are alsofollowed up closely.

In the early 1990s, the IMO website wasinstigated as a result of a Library project withHong Kong University. Since then the websitehas been greatly expanded but the Librarytogether with the public information service ofIMO have continued to be the two major keyplayers in the development of the informationcontent. IMO also has a strong presence onthe UN Atlas of the Ocean, a website entirelydedicated to oceans issues.

Embracing both traditional and ultra-modern knowledge sources, IMO’slibrary provides a haven for researchers, delegates, staff members andvisitors from many sectors

Towards a Maritime Knowledge CentreThe future IMO Knowledge Centre will have the IMO Library at its root

• Our Customers: Secretariat, Delegates,Representatives, Maritime Industry, Public(Journalists, Researchers, Students),Affiliated Organisations, United Nationsworld-wide

• Our collection: 40 000 Books, pamphlets,Reports, Proceedings, training material andmultimedia; the complete collection of IMOdocuments and publications in print andelectronic form in all available languagessince 1959 (in prep: hypertext-linked docs)

• Current Awareness Bulletin: newsheadlines with an abstract; a unique recordof developments in the industry since 1991.Get it e-mailed to you jross@imo.org

• Over 500 journal titles

• SeaLibrary Online: over 71000 records indexed

• 1,000 external enquiries per year from ourcustomers

• Sources and Citations of IMO Conventions:all Conventions and amendments, date ofadoption, entry into force, references toIMO documents, publications, notesverbales and citations. Linking to full textof resolutions is in preparation.

• Bibliography of Maritime Literature: Corelist of books including non-IMO sources

• Facts and Figures on the maritime industry

• Document delivery via e-mail ; Loansthrough inter-Library system

• Pharos a union catalogue of majormaritime information centres worldwide

• InfoGate –gateway to information resources

IMO Library – key facts

The practical implementation of theVoluntary IMO Member State Audit

Scheme has received a significant boost inthe form of a financial pledge from theGovernment of the United Kingdom.

The UK has offered a donation of £55,000 inthis financial year towards the cost of theOrganization’s technical co-operation activitiesdesigned to help prepare developing countriesparticipate in the Audit Scheme. The moneywill be used to help support the regionaltraining courses for auditors that are due to bedelivered in the early part of 2006.

In a letter to IMO Secretary-General EfthimiosE. Mitropoulos, the UK Minister for TransportDr Stephen Ladyman confirmed the UK’s

support for the scheme, which is due to beformally adopted by the IMO Assembly whenit meets for its 24th session in November thisyear. He pledged that the United Kingdomwould offer itself for audit as soon aspracticable and would publish the results,adding that Member States that were able toshould fund the cost of their own audit.

In thanking the UK Government for its staunchsupport for IMO’s efforts in developing theVoluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme,Mr Mitropoulos welcomed the UK’s intentionto offer its maritime administration for audit assoon as practicable and expressed the hopethat the publishing of the audit results wouldbe an example emulated by others.

IMO audit scheme receives financial boost

IMO at work

26 IMO NEWS No.4 2005 www.imo.org.

2004 International Maritime Prizegoes to all-rounder from Mexico

The prestigious International MaritimePrize for 2004 has been presented to

Mr. Luis Martínez Wolf of Mexico.

Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International MaritimeOrganization, presented the prize to Mr. Mr.Wolf during a special ceremony (onThursday, 17 November) at IMO’s LondonHeadquarters during the Organization’s 23rdExtraordinary Council session, whichpreceded the Organization’s 24th Assembly.

Mr. Martínez Wolf has spent a lifetime in highprofile positions contributing to private businessand oceanographic research. A lecturer onmarine and environmental matters, he iscurrently a shipowner in the fishing industry.

His professional career has been spent invarious maritime pursuits: merchant seafarer,general adviser to the fishing industry, andvaluation expert in the fishery industry andboatbuilding. He has also been an inspector forclassification societies, including BureauVeritas and Det Norske Veritas. Mr MartinezWolf has worked as a private shipping agent inMexico and Panama, as a customs agent and asan adviser on maritime safety and evaluation.

Over the years, his innovative mind has led tohis registering patents on a number ofinventions. He has a passion for technologyand currently is designing a wastewatertreatment process known as the“homothalassic process”, in which the oceansare protected by the use of the seawater itselfas reagent.

His involvement with the maritime industrybegan with his service as an officer and chiefengineer on Mexican ships from 1952 to1957. He then broadened his experience bybecoming chief maintenance and serviceengineer at a chemical plant producingfertilizers, before becoming managementconsultant to the National Co-operativeDevelopment Bank, with responsibility forformulating and evaluating projects forsubmission to the President’s Office. Later heset up as a private businessman engaged inthe design and construction of variousindustrial plants and over 200 fishing boats.

He has travelled extensively throughoutEurope, America and Asia for work and studypurposes relating to sea fishing, marketingand research. He has served as a lecturer orspeaker at numerous meetings, drawing onhis career as a merchant seafarer, ecology orother matters of a commercial or politicalnature. He has been a lecturer on marine andenvironmental matters at five universities andat primary and secondary schools, as well asserving as director of an oceanographicresearch programme in the Mexican Pacificconcerned with the potential of bathypelagicand deep-sea species.

Five years ago, with Greenpeace andPROOAX (Oaxaca State Nature Conservation

Igor Ponomarev, Russia’s permanent representative toIMO, presents his country’s generous donation to theMaritime Security Trust Fund

Board) he was co-organizer of a meeting onthe theme “Let’s save the Papaloapan[Basin]”, which attracted speakers from allover the Mexico. He is Professor forpostgraduate courses at the “FernandoSiliceo” Merchant Navy Academy in Veracruzport, and for courses concerned withclassification society inspector qualifications,damage and assessment.

He is currently an advisor to the MexicanSenate on the maritime affairs, ecology andlegislative research committees. He is amember, director and former president of theVeracruz College of Merchant Seafarers. He isPresident of the National Maritime Allianceand of the “Vida Plena, Ecología Controlada”group standing for “Full life, controlledecology”.

In his wide range of interests outside themaritime sphere he serves as chairman of theboard of directors of the Union of Co-operativeSocieties for Diverse Occupations in the State ofVeracruz Llave and as a member of thesupervisory board of the National Confederationof Co-operative Societies for Diverse Occupations.

He is a columnist for the “Excélsior” nationaldaily newspaper and for the “Milenio El Portal”regional daily newspaper. He works closelywith Greenpeace Mexico and is an advisor tothe Indigenous Council of Uxpanapa.

The International Maritime Prize is awardedannually by IMO to the individual ororganization judged to have made the mostsignificant contribution to the work andobjectives of IMO. The 94th session of theIMO Council in June took the decision toaward the prize to Mr. Wolf in recognition ofhis long service to the cause of maritime safetyand the protection of the marine environment.

IMO receivestraining resource

UK-based maritime training companyVideotel has donated an installation of it

new training system “Videotel on Demand” tothe IMO Library. The system was recentlyinstalled and presented to the Secretary-General who was given a brief demonstration.

This new package provides hundreds of videosand several computer based training coursesallowing the user – typically ships’ crews – totrain to meet legislative requirements and toprogress their professional development. Thisparticular system is configured for an oiltanker but other configurations are availablefrom Videotel.

A simple menu interface lets the user accessthe training they need, with just 4 clicks of themouse. The menu is divided up according toSTCW function areas and levels so users canfind the video they want even without knowingits name. The user can rewind or fast-forwardthe video to review important parts.

Workbooks and documentation are included onthe system in PDF format and can be printedby exporting the data to the data stick suppliedand then printed out at another computer.

Russia supports IMO maritime security trust fund

IMO’s International Maritime Security TrustFund has received a significant boost in the

form of a financial contribution of US$120,000from the Government of the Russian Federation.

The International Maritime Security TrustFund was established in June 2003 to enableIMO to respond to requests for technicalassistance on maritime security issues. Othercontributors to the fund have included theGovernments of Denmark, Egypt, Germany,

Republic of Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom,United States and a training institute (the USA-based Northeast Maritime Institute). Allcontributions greatly assist the delivery ofactivities under IMO's Global Technical Co-operation Programme on Maritime Security.

The Programme has included many activitiesaimed at enhancing maritime security and inparticular the implementation of the maritimesecurity measures adopted by IMO - includingSOLAS chapter XI-2 (Special measures toenhance maritime security) and theInternational Ship and Port Facility Security(ISPS) Code, which were adopted in 2002 andentered into force in July 2004.

By the end of 2005, 22 regionalseminars/workshops and 87 national trainingcourses/advisory missions will have beenorganized, resulting in some 4,000 people beingtrained globally. In addition, a total of 17 sub-regional maritime security “Train-the-Trainer”courses will have been successfully delivered.

Secretary-General Mitropoulos ponders the latestaddition to the library’s technical learning resources