This year, the maritime community’s calendar was brimming with meetings, agreements, and significant announcements. In this visual summary, we’ve curated many pivotal moments that captured the industry’s attention in 2023. These images highlight the key events that defined the maritime landscape.
On 26 June 2023, Bangladesh & Liberia ratified IMO’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (“HKC”). The HKC is aimed at “ensuring that ships, after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment when they are recycled”. Kitack Lim, Secretary-General, IMO, expressed his deepest appreciation to Liberia. He said that as a prominent flag state, their accession to the Hong Kong Convention will provide a major advancement to Liberia’s regulatory framework and would enable the tonnage criteria to be met.
The Women in Transport Equity Index survey, introduced at the Women in Transport Annual General Meeting on 26 June 2023, provided crucial baseline data, recognising best practices and driving positive change.
The 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships, with improved targets to tackle emissions, was agreed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) during the meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80), July 3–7 2023.
On 2nd August, the ReCAAP ISC held a dialogue with representatives of global and regional shipping associations, as well as shipping companies based in Singapore and Malaysia.
UNCTAD called for a “just and equitable transition” to a decarbonized shipping industry in its Review of Maritime Transport 2023 launched ahead of World Maritime Day, on 28 September.
In October, the 9th session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers moved on with the finalisation of amendments to the IGF Code.
In October, the International Propeller Club has elected Maria Conatser as International President, making her the first woman to be elected to lead the International Propeller Club in its near 100-year history.
In September, the International Bargaining Forum (IBF) has agreed on a 6% wage increase for seafarers covered by the 2024-2027 IBF Framework Agreement.
In October, DNV unveiled the 7th edition of the Energy Transition Outlook, offering a detailed projection of global energy supply and demand up to the year 2050.
In October, Christophe Mathieu, CEO of Brittany Ferries and Interferry Board member, emphasized the need for a pan-European eco-bonus system for short sea shipping, aiming to shift more goods from road to short sea services for improved efficiency and resilience.
In November, the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 opened, with an emphatic plea to expedite global climate action. The meeting is held during what is already predicted to be the warmest year in human history and as the effects of the climate catastrophe wreak unimaginable devastation on people’s lives and means of subsistence all over the globe.
On 30th November, IMO Assembly approves decision of Council to appoint Dominguez Velasco as Secretary-General with effect from 1 January 2024.
On 8th November, the ReCAAP ISC held a dialogue with the shipping industry to discuss security concerns of vessels transiting the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS)
AMSA welcomed the Consul-General for the Philippines, Aian Caringal who personally expressed the nation’s appreciation of AMSA’s recent assistance to Filipino seafarers.
A farewell event at IMO Headquarters (6 December) saw the launch of the IMO history book, “Safer shipping, cleaner seas – A celebration of 75 years of IMO”, an initiative of Secretary-General Lim.
