Tag: IMO

The shift from paper charts to ECDIS and the challenge of adapting to different ECDIS models are the focus of the latest issue of The Navigator - The Nautical's Institute free thrice-yearly magazine for marine navigational officers.

ICS, BIMCO, Intercargo, Intertanko, WSC have jointly made a submission to upcoming IMO Maritime Environment Protection Committee (IMO MEPC 66) to amend the Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems in order to ensure success of the BWM Convention. The MEPC 66 will be held in IMO headquarters from 31 March 2014 to 4 April 2014. The authors suggest that the only way to satisfactorily address concerns regardinf the BWM Convention is to amend the G8 Guidelines to provide a robust and consistently applied testing protocol that will provide confidence that type approved treatment systems are 'fit for purpose'. The Convention provides a procedure for making changes to the guidelines in Regulation D-5 It is recommended that treatment systems should be subject to testing in all types and conditions of water normally encountered in world trade and any limitations discovered should be clearly identified. The current, recently revised, recommendatory procedures permit a treatment system to be tested only in high and medium salinity temperate water with the type approval certificate stating this; this does not provide any indication of the actual limitations of the system. The type approval Guidelines also need to be consistently applied and the legislation should be amended to achieve this without the ...

ICS, BIMCO, Intercargo, Intertanko, WSC have jointly made a submission to upcoming IMO Maritime Environment Protection Committee (IMO MEPC 66) to amend the Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems in order to ensure success of the BWM Convention. The MEPC 66 will be held in IMO headquarters from 31 March 2014 to 4 April 2014.

Following last week's session of the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Construction (SDC 1), the IMO has come closer to finalizing international environmental and safety regulations on navigation in polar regions.

Increased Arctic and Antarctic shipping The new draft Polar Code' of safety and environmental rules fails to address the looming danger of having non ice-strengthened and poorly prepared ships in supposedly ice-free' polar waters, environmental organisations have warned. The final draft, drawn up by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), governs ships operating in Arctic and Antarctic waters. Increased shipping activity poses significant new threats to the polar environment and wildlife through oil spills, black carbon deposition, sewage discharges and the introduction of invasive species. The IMO reached preliminary agreement on rules for the vessels, which will increasingly include oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships potentially operated by crew not accustomed to such harsh conditions. Blinded by the prospect of ice-free' operations enabled by the sea ice melt, the IMO makes the fateful assumption that these ships can safely operate without special hull protection or restrictions such as reduced speed.The Polar Code's environmental chapter also lacks ambition. Residual' heavy ship fuel oil, the dirtiest type of fuel used in the transport sector, would have a catastrophic environmental impact if spilled and is already banned in Antarctic waters, but the IMO dismissed the issue outright for the Arctic. Black carbon emissions ...

2014 WMD theme is 'IMO conventions: effective implementation' IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has launched this year's World Maritime Day theme, "IMO conventions: effective implementation", expressing the hope that the year would see genuine progress towards effective and global implementation of all IMO conventions.Speaking at a reception to mark the launch of the theme, at the end of the first day of the first session of the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Construction (SDC), Mr. Sekimizu said the theme provided an opportunity to shine a spotlight on those IMO treaty instruments which have not yet entered into force, as well as wider and more effective implementation of measures already agreed or in place."The adoption of an IMO convention cannot be the end of a process. A conference is held, the text agreed, there are handshakes all round. But it's not the end of the process. It should be just the end of the beginning. Because an IMO convention is only worthwhile and meaningful if it is effectively and universally implemented," Mr. Sekimizu said.Treaties still to enter into force include the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004; the Hong Kong International Convention for the ...

IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has delivered his New Year Address outlining some of the targets, challenges and priorities the Organization

IMO Secretary-General and WMU Chancellor, Mr. Koji Sekimizu, visited WMU for a full itinerary of activities, accompanied by the Director of the Technical Co-operation Division, Mr. Nicolaos Charalambous, and the Senior Deputy Director, Ms. Pamela Tansey. The visit was hosted by WMU President Professor Björn Kjerfve, and Vice President Academic Professor Neil Bellefontaine.

IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has delivered his New Year Address outlining some of the targets, challenges and priorities the Organization will face this year at the opening of the first sub-committee meeting of 2014.

The Hong Kong Marine Department has issued merchant shipping information note regarding the adoption of amendments to the performance standard for protective coatings for dedicated seawater ballast tanks in all types of ships (IMO Resolution MSC.341(91) )