Lifeboats save lives. Titanic had a limited number of lifeboats onboard because its construction was considered a technological miracle of safety and luxury. And this is why 1,500 out of the 2,200 people onboard perished in what is considered as the world’s most famous maritime disaster.
Since the start of the pandemic, crew wellness has topped the industry agenda with international shipping bodies, unions and associations vowing for a fairer treatment of seafarers. What actions has the industry taken to resolve this humanitarian crisis? Was it enough?
The last couple years, cyber security has become a significant challenge for the maritime industry as well. In this regard, IMO took the decision to embed cyber security into Safety Management Systems; not much time has left for this new requirement and one thing is for sure: from next year, a new era begins for ship operators.
Charterers’ “no crew change” clauses worsens the ongoing crew change crisis and further threatens safety of navigation, highlighted IMO Secretary-General, Kitack Lim.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched a correspondence group that will review and amend the indicative example of a license for fuel oil supply.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported significant progress with its contingency planning efforts to prepare for a possible oil spill from the floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) SAFER, which has been moored off the coast of Yemen since 1988.
A total of 45 IMO Member States and one Associate Member have now designated seafarers as key workers, a key step in resolving the ongoing crew change crisis, which has left hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded onboard ships due to travel restrictions.
The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the possibility of physical IMO meetings and delayed other meetings, thus complicating timelines related to the coming into force of amendments to various IMO Conventions, IUMI Policy Director, Hendrike Kühl, said.
Amid an ongoing crew change crisis which has left hundreds of thousands of seafarers trapped onboard ships, the IMO took the opportunity of the World Human Rights Day, on 10 December, to send a strong call for their fundamental rights to be respected.
Except the pandemic and the risks arising, the shipping industry has to deal with a rise in cyber-attacks against superyachts and the forthcoming IMO requirements on the sector’s cyber security systems from January.
