BIMCO will have a Marine Environment Committee and a Maritime Safety and Security Committee in the future, according to a recent statement. The two committees will have up to 15 members, without the Chair, and members in the committees are to be recruited from BIMCO’s member-companies coming from small, medium sized and large shipowners.
In the existing committee structure, safety and environmental issues are covered by the Marine Committee.
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In the new structure, typical agenda items for the Marine Environment Committee will include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; biofouling management and ballast water management.
In addition, it is said that the safety and security agenda will include topics such as piracy, drug smuggling, container fires and cyber risk management. What is more, in cases where environment issues overlap with safety, such as in the case of fuel oil, both committees shall meet and discuss together.
BIMCO has a lean committee structure, with the three main committees- Documentary, Marine Environment and Maritime Safety and Security- meeting twice per year.
Namely, Angus Frew, BIMCO Secretary General & CEO stated that
The new setup reflects the meeting structure at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and will facilitate a better handling of the many important topics on the environment, safety and security agendas.
Recently, BIMCO’s Documentary Committee has agreed to a major overhaul of the Dispute Resolution Clause with the aim to shorten and simplify BIMCO’s longest standard clause. Specifically, during the bi-annual meeting in Copenhagen, December 5, the attendees agreed on simplifying the clause, mostly by removing the mediation provision that was added to the clause in 2002.
In continuance, it was agreed that they will publish a new free-standing mediation clause, for those who are interested to invoke in mediation or part of a dispute, once arbitration proceedings have recommenced.