>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Hong Kong Celebrates World Maritime Day 1997 The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) - the United Nations specialised agency dealing with maritime affairs - is celebrating together with its 155 Member states the World Maritime Day 1997 starting from today (Monday) to Friday (September 26). The theme for this year's occasion is : "Optimum Maritime Safety demands a Focus on People". The IMO, of which Hong Kong is an associate member in its own right, uses the occasion every year to publicise its work. The annual World Maritime Day was first held on March 17, 1978 to mark the date of entry into force in 1958 of the Convention establishing the IMO. In a message marking the World Maritime Day 1997, the Secretary-General of the IMO, Mr William O'Neil, said today that the solution to avoid an accident was not by adding more regulations but required a change of attitude and the adoption of a culture which put safety at the top of its list of priorities. Mr O'Neil said that the IMO has been since the last two decades emphasizing that more should be done to ensure that existing regulations were properly implemented. Mr O'Neil said, "Over the last few years, IMO has devoted more and more attention to achieving this goal and have taken steps to improve the way Governments implement IMO standards on ships under their flag. "We have encouraged the establishing of regional agreements for carrying out ship inspections by port States," he added. The Secretary-General further elaborated that the IMO was now focusing on two initiatives - the International Safety Management (ISM) Code and the revision of the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). The first is the entry into force next July of the ISM Code. "This Code was developed by IMO to ensure that shipping companies around the world treat safety seriously," Mr O'Neil said. "The Code requires that they develop a special safety management plan and appoint a senior official to be responsible for its implementation. "This could involve changes to the structure and organisation of shipping companies and we believe that it will result in major improvements to the safety of shipping," Mr O'Neil continued. With regard to the concern that some shipping companies might think that the Code is somehow voluntary and will not apply to them, Mr O'Neil stressed that the ISM Code is going to be mandatory and to apply to virtually every ship in the world. "Companies which do not have the proper certification as prescribed in the Code would be in violation of the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and could find themselves out of business because their ships will be denied entry into ports around the world," Mr O'Neil said. "It is impossible, under SOLAS, for implementation of the Code to be deferred. It will enter into force on July 1, 1998 - and that date cannot be avoided." As for the second initiative, Mr O'Neil noted that it concerned the 1995 amendments to the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. They entered into force on February 1 this year and are intended to raise the quality of the seafarers who operate the world's ships. "This will improve their efficiency and enhance their safety as well. And, like the ISM Code, this cannot be avoided," he said. "By next year, Parties to the Convention are required to submit to IMO details of their administrative, educational and certification procedures." "These will then be considered by the Maritime Safety Committee, IMO's senior technical body - which is open to all Member States." "Those who pass this scrutiny will be able to prove that the seafarers who hold their certificates meet international standards but those who do not find that their certificates would not be internationally recognised and their seafarers would be refused a berth." Commenting on these initiatives, the Secretary-General noted that both of them were concerned with people. "The ISM Code will help managers of shipping companies who are best placed to make ships safer while the revised Convention will provide the framework to ensure that they are appropriately trained and possess the skills to do the job properly," he said. "I believe that these two major developments, combined with other IMO initiatives designed to improve the way convention requirements are implemented, will help to ensure that shipping safety improves dramatically in the years to come," Mr O'Neil said. "By concentrating on management and seafarer standards, they focus attention where it is most needed - on people," he added. Monday, September 22, 1997
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