The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the Comité Maritime International (CMI) have launched an updated campaign to get governments to ratify urgent maritime treaties.
The shipping industry, which transports about 90% of world trade, is fortunate to enjoy the comprehensive regulatory framework provided by the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other United Nations bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to ICS and CMI, it is critical that the same regulations governing matters such as safety, environmental protection and shipowners’ liability, as well as seafarers’ training and employment standards, apply equally to all ships engaged in international trade, and that the same rules apply during all parts of the voyage.
The alternative would be a plethora of conflicting national or regional rules that would seriously compromise the efficiency of world trade, creating market distortion and administrative confusion. The absence of global standards, genuinely enforced worldwide on a uniform basis, would lead to a patchwork of unilateral regulations and inferior levels of safety and environmental protection.
Whenever new maritime Conventions are adopted, it is therefore most important that governments seek to ratify them as soon as practicable.
Furthermore, any delay to the entry into force of new Conventions can encourage the promotion of unwelcome unilateral regulation by national or regional authorities which may undermine both the highly developed global regulatory framework that applies to international shipping and the authority of IMO and the ILO.
For these reasons, ICS and CMI have long campaigned for governments to ratify and implement those maritime Conventions adopted at IMO, ILO and the various other UN bodies that impact on shipping.
The core Conventions governing shipping, Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STCW) and the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), all enjoy very impressive levels of ratification by governments. They are implemented on a global basis across virtually the entire merchant fleet. The same can be said for the highly successful 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions.
However, the campaign highlights that there are a number of other maritime instruments that would benefit from a greater level of ratification. This includes several international Conventions which still require additional ratifications by governments in order to enter into force worldwide.
Priority conventions for 2025-2027
The following Conventions are the main focus of the current ICS/CMI campaign. Ratification of these instruments by governments is strongly encouraged as a matter of urgency
- IMO Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (Nairobi WRC), 2007
- IMO 2010 Protocol to the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea (HNS), 1996
- IMO Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong) 2009
- United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, 2023 (the Beijing Convention)
Instruments which would benefit from wider ratification
- IMO Convention on Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water (BWM), 2004
- IMO Protocol of 1997 to MARPOL (Annex VI – Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships)
- IMO Protocol of 1996 to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC Protocol), 1976
- IMO Convention on the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL), 1965
- ILO Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised) (ILO 185), 2003
- IMO 2003 Supplementary Fund Protocol to the 1992 Fund Convention (2003 Protocol)
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)
- IMO Protocol of 2002 to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea (PAL), 1974
- United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods by Sea Wholly or Partly by Sea, 2009 (the Rotterdam Rules)
