IMO Head: States and Industry Must Implement Rules

Sekimizu said both ratification and implementation of conventions are needed

Member states and industry must take responsibility for turning international decisions on industry issues into practical change, International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told an audience at a reception to mark the launch of the 2014 World Maritime Day theme of "IMO conventions: effective implementation."

"Energy efficiency measures for ships, the availability of fuel oil to meet increasingly stringent sulphur content requirements, and the verification of goal-based ship construction standards are all important activities for which we wish to make significant progress in the Organization's work this year and will all contribute towards wider and more effective implementation of measures already agreed or in place," he said.

Sekimizu said the theme will help leaders address both wider and more effective implementation of IMO agreements and conventions that have not yet entered into force.

"An IMO convention is only worthwhile and meaningful if it is effectively and universally implemented," he said.

Treaties that have not yet entered into force include measures on ballast water, ship recycling and wreck removal, hazardous waste liability, and fishing vessel safety.

"The sooner these conventions enter into force, the sooner the benefits would be received by us and the international community," Sekimizu said.

"During the course of this year, under the banner of the World Maritime Day theme, we will do all we can to encourage the ratification and implementation of all these instruments."

Danish ballast water systems maker Bawat said recently that the ratification of the IMO convention on ballast water management will spur growth in the sector.