17/03/2014 ON THIS DAY IN 1958 THE IMO CONVENTION ENTERED INTO FORCE, LAUNCHING THE GLOBAL ORGANIZATION THAT HAS SUCCESSFULLY STRIVEN TO MAKE SHIPPING SAFER, MORE SECURE AND MORE ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY EVER SINCE.
It has always been recognized that the best way of improving safety at sea is by developing international regulations that are followed by all shipping nations and from the mid-19th century onwards a number of such treaties were adopted. Several countries proposed that a permanent international body should be established to promote maritime safety more effectively, but it was not until the establishment of the United Nations itself that these hopes were realized. In 1948 an international conference in Geneva adopted a convention formally establishing IMO (the original name was the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization, or IMCO, but the name was changed in 1982 to IMO).
“The mission of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a United Nations specialized agency is to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping through cooperation. This will be accomplished by adopting the highest practicable standards of maritime safety and security, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of pollution from ships, as well as through consideration of the related legal matters and effective implementation implementation of IMO’s instruments with a view to their universal and uniform implementation of IMO’s instruments with a view to their universal and uniform application.”
