The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) - a specialised agency of the United Nations dealing with maritime affairs - has been celebrating together with its 155 Members States the World Maritime Day 1999 this week.

The theme for this year's occasion is "IMO and the New Millennium".

The IMO, of which Hong Kong is an associate member in its own right, was created in 1948 but it took another decade for the IMO Convention to receive enough acceptance to enter into force.

The annual World Maritime Day was first held on March 17, 1978 to mark the date of entry into force in 1958 of the IMO Convention.

In a message marking the World Maritime Day 1999, IMO's Secretary-General Mr William O'Neil today (Thursday) urged the shipping sector to continue to foster a culture of safety with quality as its fulcrum as they were preparing for the new Millennium.

"New technology will not create a culture, but we as individuals can. It is up to us to make sure that in everything we do, quality and safety are our first thoughts," Mr O'Neil said.

He noted that during the past 40 years, IMO had achieved a great deal of success in dealing with its prime objectives.

Accidents and total losses of ships have gone down steadily. The amount of oil getting into the sea from ships has been cut by as much as 60 per cent and the number of major oil spills reduced by half.

"It is a record that we can be proud of. But it is one upon which we must ceaselessly continue to build. That must be our goal for the future," Mr O'Neil stressed.

In the new Millennium, the world's population continues to grow and so the need for food and goods will increase.

Mr O'Neil anticipated that shipping would play an even more important role because ships remained the best, most economical and most environmentally friendly means of transport available.

He also expected that technological changes would further increase the speed and size of vessels, and that there might be major changes in ships' propulsion with the development of new fuel source.

The IMO Secretary-General said that as ships became more complex, navigation would become more dependent on electronic innovations.

"Ships will become safer and they will continue to improve on their substantial achievements in pollution abatement," he said.

But he warned that though technology would provide many opportunities, it would also create some problems.

"The shipping industry must be alert to this fact and take heed of the knowledge that some accidents at sea over the last few decades have been attributed to technological changes that were not thoroughly assessed from the safety point of view before they were introduced operationally," Mr O'Neil said.

He added that IMO had already instigated procedures that would ensure new concepts were evaluated before they were accepted.

Mr O'Neil also addressed to the issue of accidents caused by human error.

"Crew training must be improved and the standards of everyone involved in shipping, on shore as well as at sea, will have to be raised," he said.

He also called for particular attention to certain specific types of ships, such as passengers vessels, saying that the capability of existing regulatory regime and operating procedures in dealing with the tremendous increase in the size of these vessels must be ensured.

But Mr O'Neil stressed that both IMO and the shipping industry agreed that introduction of more regulations was not the best way to raise standards, but instead, focus should be put on ensuring that existing measures were properly implemented.

"The IMO Technical Co-operation programme, which has been conceived and structured as an integral component of the implementation process, will facilitate this," he added.

Thursday, 30 September 1999