ICS Wants More Nations to Ratify IMO Conventions

As shipping’s global regulatory structure faces increasing pressure from regional interests, the International Chamber of Shipping and the Comite Maritime International (CMI) have announced a joint campaign to encourage national governments to ratify more IMO treaties.

ICS and CMI have been concerned for a long time that many governments are not ratifying important conventions. This year, they have updated their joint campaign to address the issue, and are encouraging shipowners to educate their governments about the importance of ratification. The effort focuses on a handful of conventions that the two organizations believe are the most important:

– The IMO Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (Nairobi WRC)
– The IMO 2010 Protocol to the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea Convention (HNS Convention)
– The IMO Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong Convention)
– The United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (Beijing Convention)

Of these, the HNS Convention is the only one that has not yet received enough signatories to enter into force, and it has been awaiting full ratification since 2010. 

ICS has long advocated for a single global rulebook for shipping, which is by definition a global industry. Merchant ships cross national boundaries every day, and the alternative to a robust international framework “would be a plethora of conflicting national or regional rules that would seriously compromise the efficiency of world trade,” according to ICS.

Ratifying conventions adds weight to their validity, brings national enforcement mechanisms to bear, and can add protection for signatory nations. The Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention requires shipowners to carry insurance for the increasingly high costs of wreck removal, and allows coastal states to pursue insurers directly to recover expenses. Non-signatory coastal states could miss out on that protection within their territorial seas, and could be left on the hook for the cost of cleanup of a foreign ship. Only 70 nations have ratified the Nairobi WRC to date. 

ICS and CMI noted that IMO is available to provide legal and technical assistance to national governments if they wish to ratify and implement a new convention. Implementation typically requires new domestic legislation and new administrative functions in each ratifying country, and IMO has a program to help set up these mechanisms – but only if asked. 

“The purpose of the campaign is for ICS and CMI members, which represent national shipowner associations and national maritime law associations respectively, to engage with their governments to urge them to ratify these conventions where they are not currently in force,” said Kiran Khosla, Principal Director (Legal) at the International Chamber of Shipping. “It is fundamental that the same regulations are equally applied to all ships engaged in international trade, and that the same rules apply during the entire voyage. A global industry needs global regulations.”