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International Maritime Organization (IMO) - Purpose and nature of work by IMO

IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations dealing with maritime affairs. Its membership consists of 162 signatory States that include the UK and every other major maritime country, and three Associate Members.

Together, IMO Member States control more than 96% of world merchant tonnage.

* IMO’s purposes are stated in Article 1 of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization. The chief purposes can be summarised as: i) to facilitate inter-governmental co-operation on State regulation and practices relating to maritime technical matters; and

ii) to encourage and facilitate the adoption of the highest practicable standards of maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships.

* Address: 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR, England.

* Website: www.imo.org

IMO’s main organs are its Assembly, Council, Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), Legal Committee, and Technical Co-operation Committee. There is also a Facilitation Committee and a number of sub-committees of the main technical committees.

* IMO’s work is mostly technical, and is carried out by the committees and sub-committees on which sit representatives of the governments of Member States. (For a note on the UK’s IMO Liaison Team and Permanent Representative to IMO see B05b.2a).



Assembly - is the highest governing body of IMO. It consists of all Member States and meets once every 2 years in regular sessions, and in extraordinary sessions if necessary. The Assembly is responsible for approving IMO’s work programme, for voting IMO’s budget and for determining IMO’s financial arrangements. It elects IMO’s Council. Plenary sessions of the Assembly are open to the press and public, but the majority of its work is done in Committee. A03b.1b Council - is composed of 40 Member States elected by the Assembly for 2-year terms beginning after each regular session. 10 Council members are Member States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, e.g. Greece and Norway. 10 are other States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade. 20 are other States with special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world2. * Council is the executive organ of IMO, responsible under the Assembly for supervising IMO’s work. It performs the functions of Assembly between sessions, except for making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution. A03b.1c Main committees - include the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and the Legal Committee. - each have sub-committees which deal with detailed technical matters. - may produce resolutions (see A03b.2d). A03b.1d Secretariat - consists of the Secretary-General and nearly 300 personnel, based at IMO’s London headquarters (for address see A03a). A03b.2 IMO instruments - include:

• Conventions;

• Protocols;

• Amendments;

• Recommendations, Codes and Guidelines; and

• Resolutions.

* Amendments, guidelines and other measures are promulgated by the main committees (including the MSC and MEPC) by means of circulars, e.g. MSC/Circ. 666: Loading and unloading of bulk cargoes. A03b.2a Conventions - aremultilateral treaty documents. (For notes on treaties see A01a.3.) - are the chief instruments of IMO, being binding legal instruments regulating some aspect of maritime affairs of major concern to IMO, e.g. safety of life at sea or marine pollution. - are identified by a name and the year of adoption by the Assembly, e.g. the “International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974”.

- may have detailed technical provisions attached in annexes, e.g. the six annexes to the MARPOL Convention, each dealing with a different aspect of marine pollution. - may also have detailed technical provisions in an associated code, e.g. the LSA Code, which contains technical provisions of equipment required under the provisions of SOLAS. - are commonly referred to by a single-word code-name, e.g. “COLREG”, more correctly called “COLREG 1972” to indicate the year of adoption.


Other useful articles :
  1. Rope handling safe procedure

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  2. Synthetic man-made ropes and hawsers

    3. Although natural fibre ropes are still widely used throughout the marine industry, they have been superseded by synthetic fibres for a great many purposes. Not only do the majority of synthetic ropes have greater strength than their natural fibre counterparts, but they are more easily obtainable and at present considerably cheaper.
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  3. Natural fibre rope

    4. All natural fibre rope is manufactured from manilla, sisal, hemp, coir, cotton or flax fibres.The process of manufacture consists of twisting the fibres into yarns and turning the yarns in an opposite direction to establish the strands.
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  4. Prepare cargo holds prior loading

    5. Washing is always carried out after the compartment has been swept. Drying time for washed compartments must be allowed for, before loading the next cargo; this time will vary with the climate, but two to three days must be expected.
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  5. Strength and stability of the Lifting appliances

    6. The vessel's structure, crane, derrick or other lifting device and the supporting structure should be of sufficient strength to withstand the loads that will be imposed when operating at its maximum load moment .
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  6. Anchoring safe practice

    7. Prior approaching an area for anchoring ships master should investigate fully a suitable anchoring position and conduct a planned approach including speed reduction in ample time and orienting the ships head prior anchoring to same as similar sized vessels around or stem the tide or wind whichever is stronger . Final decision to be made on method of anchoring to be used , the number of shackles , the depth of water, expected weather and holding ground. .
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  7. MacGregor single-pull weather-deck hatch cover

    8. Hatch covers are used to close off the hatch opening and make it watertight. Wooden hatch covers, consisting of beams and boards over the opening and covered with tarpaulins, were once used but are no longer fitted. Steel hatch covers, comprising a number of linked steel covers, are now fitted universally. Various designs exist for particular applications, but most offer simple and quick opening and closing, which speed up the cargo handling operation..
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  8. Cargo holds access arrangement

    9. The access shall be separate from the hatchway opening, and shall be by a stairway if possible. A fixed ladder, or a line of fixed rungs, shall have no point where they fill a reverse slope .
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  9. Lay of Ropes and hawsers - Small Stuff descriptions

    10. The lay of rope is a term used to describe the nature of the twist that produces the complete rope .The most common form of rope at sea is known as ‘hawser laid rope’ comprising three strands laid up right- or lefthanded.
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  10. Stresses in ship structures and how to mitigate

    11. Heavy weights tend to cause a downward deflection of the deck area supporting the load .This subsequently produces stresses, with consequent inward and outward deflections of supporting bulkheads, depending on the position of initial loading .
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  11. Lifting appliances - Maintenance, testing, controls & safety measures

    12. When there is any suspicion that any appliance or item of equipment may have been subjected to excessive loads, exceeding the Safe Working Load (SWL), or subjected to treatment likely to cause damage, it should be taken out of service until it can be subjected to a thorough examination by a competent person.
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  12. Safe operation of Lifting appliances and gears

    13. All lifting operations must be properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out to protect the safety of workers.
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