International Maritime Forum
Shanghai University, 15 May 2017
“International maritime conventions and the global shipping industry”
Speech by Kitack Lim, IMO Secretary-General Ladies and gentlemen, students, It is a pleasure to be with you today and I am pleased to be able to share my thoughts with you at this external nautical forum.
here in China you have experienced unprecedented economic increase for much of this century. Although the global economy and earth seaborne deal have returned to growth after a drop in global trade wind following the fiscal crisis of 2008, overcapacity is keeping freight and rent rates low. profit has been hard to find for shipping companies. indeed, for most, survival has been the priority for the past ten-spot years. Yet the ship industry must find a sustainable and viable room forward. Because ship, as the most cost-efficient way to transport the huge majority of international trade, will be central to sustainable ball-shaped development and growth in the future. A safe, fasten, clean and effective international ship diligence is essential to the modern global. And governments all over the populace have an obligation to create a regulative framework that allows that to happen. IMO is a speciate agency of the United Nations, created by governments to enable them to do this. At IMO, the world ‘s governments come together to turn that debt instrument into something more tangible. They turn it into a regulative imperative mood. IMO ’ s overall mission is to promote safe, fasten, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable ship. And we do this in two ways. First, we develop and adopt a ball-shaped regulative regimen for shipping that embraces the highest operable standards of maritime base hit and security, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of befoulment from ships. And, second gear, we back this up with an extensive program of technical aid and capacity build up, to ensure that, once adopted, the standards can be implemented evenly and efficaciously ; to ensure that no-one gets left behind. This framework of global standards and regulations, developed by governments at IMO enables shipping to operate safely, securely, cleanly and efficiently. IMO ’ south mandate was originally limited to safety-related issues, but subsequently its remit has expanded to embrace environmental considerations, legal matters, technical foul cooperation, issues that affect the overall efficiency of shipping – such as how to deal with stowaways or how a cargo manifest should be transmitted to the authorities ashore – piracy and armed looting against ships and nautical security. broadly speak, IMO measures fall into three categories. There are those aimed primarily at the prevention of accidents, casualties and environmental damage from ships in the first gear place. In this group you will find conventions setting standards for embark blueprint, construction, equipment, operation and man. then there is a series of measures which recognize that accidents do happen, despite the best efforts of all concerned, and which, therefore, try to mitigate their negative effects. Rules concerning distress and guard communications, the provision of search and rescue facilities and vegetable oil spill clean-up and reaction mechanisms, all fall into this class. The final group is concerned with the aftermath of accidents, and, in particular, with establishing a mechanism for ensuring that those who suffer the consequences of an accident – and this refers in particular, although not entirely, to pollution victims – can be adequately compensated. Given how comprehensive this regulative framework now is, I think the future will see more and more emphasis placed on IMO ’ s work on technical cooperation. IMO has developed more than 50 international treaties and relate standards. But the entire benefits of this across-the-board body of external law can lone be realized if their provisions are effectively, efficiently and systematically implemented and enforced. And it is the Member States, supported by the diligence, who are ultimately responsible for implementing IMO measures. IMO ’ s technical cooperation work is full of life ensure that they have the capacity to do this, particularly those developing countries which may lack the relevant maritime experience and expertness. Although founded as a strictly technical body, there is no doubt that the political and economic dimensions of IMO ’ mho exploit are becoming increasingly influential and we are adapting and changing consequently. IMO and its members have taken the opportunity of changing times to examine the very philosophy that underpins the regulative framework within which shipping operates. Do we, for model, regulate in such a way that the latest engineering, the best technology presently available, is required across the whole fleet, thereby raising standards universally or equally ? Or possibly we want regulations that go far ? Regulations that challenge the engineers, the naval architects, the designers, to push the envelope of engineering ever promote ? Do we want regulations that stretch the current boundaries of technological possibility ? The result has been a philosophical transformation in favor of goal-based standards, initially for ship construction. Goal-based standards allow for innovative newfangled ways to meet the agree goals to be developed without having to re-write the predominate script every time. They encourage initiation but, at the like time, ensure that ships are constructed in such a manner that, if by rights maintained, they could remain dependable for their integral economic life. They represent a debate move away from prescriptive regulations, which tend to become less and less relevant over time and can hold back ship designers, who are technically advanced, from being able to properly address future design challenges. nowadays, we live in a global in which raw engineering seems poised to have a transform impact on all our lives. Shipping is no exception. New technologies have already brought significant changes in the way ships are designed, constructed and operated, impacting personnel, both on board and ashore. In the future, I expect technology will create a more coordinated and effective industry, more closely integrated with the hale global provide chain. But technical advances deliver challenges angstrom well as opportunities, so their introduction into the regulative model needs to be considered cautiously. We need to balance the benefits against safety and security concerns, the impact on the environment and on international trade, the potential costs to the industry and, not least, their shock on personnel, both on board and ashore. The regulative framework will need continual adaptation to keep footstep with engineering. I believe technology holds the key to a safe and more sustainable future for shipping. I don ’ metric ton expect one single discovery that will solve all our problems at once. But what we will see is actual progress through the collective effect of borderline gains in many unlike areas. Thanks to the opportunities afforded by new engineering, transport is, potentially, on the brink of a raw era. If we think of the technologies emerging around fuel and energy use, automation and vessel management, materials and construction and thus many other areas, we can expect newly generations of ships that bring step-change improvements in all the areas that IMO regulates. And, in the future, we can expect the “ easy ” technologies of digitization and adult data to be as important in the exploitation of transportation as the traditional “ hard ” engineering issues that I have good mentioned.
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At IMO, we besides need to do more to embrace data in our employment and in our decision-making processes. For example, we need to have more detail and deep analysis of statistics and data so that we can in truth understand underlying trends and causal factors behind shipping casualties ; and we must make certain that additions and amendments to the regulative model are besides based, wherever possible, on relevant statistics, studies and psychoanalysis. The regulative model for shipping embraces what are deemed to be the highest possible standards that can be applied universally. But, of course, that does n’t stop others from embracing higher standards should they choose to do sol. But in an external context ; in the context of an industry that needs to operate within a reproducible framework that is recognized, and applied evenly wherever in the earth a ship may call, those higher standards must be self-applied. By which I mean there is nothing wrong with individual countries applying higher or more rigorous standards to their own vessels ; but they must besides recognize the robustness of the universal standards that apply to all ships. The identical kernel of international regulation, and one of the foundations on which IMO is built, is that no advantage should be gained either by cutting corners or by unilaterally imposing higher standards. It is a fact that, today, we live in a ball-shaped society which is supported by a global economy. The potential benefits are clearly : growth can be accelerated and prosperity more far-flung ; skills and technology can be more evenly dispersed, and both individuals and countries can take advantage of previously undreamed economic opportunities. The broader challenge that we all face is how to ensure future growth can be achieved sustainably ; how to ensure that globalization becomes a convinced coerce for all the populace ‘s people, and not for just a privileged few. In 2015, 193 countries, including China, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ). This Agenda calls for action by all countries to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development by 2030 cosmopolitan – and the SDGs are seen as an opportunity to transform the world for the better and leave no-one behind. As part of the United Nations family, IMO is actively function towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the associate SDGs. The SDGs specifically recognize the importance of build bouncy infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and fostering invention. indeed, most of the elements of that Agenda will only be realized with a sustainable transport sector supporting world barter and facilitating global economy. quite apart from the cardinal character shipping plays as the carrier of global craft, maritime activities besides provide an significant reservoir of income to many developing countries. indeed, developing countries now lead the world in some of shipping ‘s most important accessory businesses, including the registration of ships, the supply of seagoing work force and ship recycling. They besides play a significant part in shipowning and operate on, shipbuilding and animate and port services, among others – and their presence in IMO is appropriately impregnable. nautical activity can both drive and support a healthy economy and that is why investment, growth and improvement in the transport and interface sectors are besides significant. They facilitate ball-shaped department of commerce and the initiation of wealth and prosperity among nations and peoples, creating a wide variety of jobs aboard ships and ashore, with beneficial impacts, both direct and indirect, on the livelihoods of others. There can be no doubt that transmit and communication are crucial for sustainable growth in the ball-shaped environment. If the benefits of globalization are to be evenly spread, all countries must be able to play a broad and active depart in the distribution system and build potent transport infrastructures. IMO ‘s contribution towards this goal will be founded on our influence surrounding implementation and capacity construction. To highlight this likely, IMO ’ mho composition for this class is “ Connecting Ships, Ports and People ”. It brings together the many diverse stakeholders in the business of ship and logistics. It enables us to shine a foreground on cooperation between ports and ships to maintain and enhance a safe, secure and efficient nautical exile system. It besides focuses on the importance of developing and implementing ‘ joined-up ’ maritime strategies, both from a policy and a virtual perspective. The benefits of a rid and efficient flow of goods and trade extend far beyond the ships and ports themselves. As both IMO ’ second subject and this conference remind us, an effective interface between them can improve the lives of people everywhere. Although IMO is chiefly concerned with regulations for ships, there are countless areas where our work besides impacts on ports – from condom and traffic facilitation, through security to environmental protection, we share so many areas of common refer. In this deference, IMO is already an authoritative actor in the alleged ‘ bluing economy ’. This is a very ample and growing sector – but the global marine environment and its resources are being degraded and over-exploited at an ever-increasing rate and scale. And conflicts in the habit of ocean space and resources among the assorted stakeholders are increasing. To be sustainable, homo activities have to be balanced with the oceans ’ capacity to remain healthy and divers in the long condition. A major share of IMO ’ randomness role is to ensure that shipping continues to make its contribution to the ball-shaped economy without upsetting that delicate balance. The world is no retentive prepared to accept services or industries that are merely cost-efficient. We now demand them to be condom, green and clean, ampere well as efficient. Through IMO, governments have sought to ensure that shipping responds to this challenge. And the significant improvements in fatal accident and contamination figures from ships over several decades intelligibly show that we have achieved considerable success in this respect. Yet, still, we seek foster improvements. possibly the cardinal challenge that shipping faces nowadays is to remain economically sustainable while meeting the increasingly rigorous demands of its customers, and of society as a whole, with regard to condom and environmental performance. Shipping will have to continually adjust to new expectations – and this, by the way, may besides drive changes in the ball-shaped fleet, encouraging older vessels to be phased out gradually, promoting newfangled and more effective transport designs and streamlining vessel operations. many of these new expectations are reflected in the regulative regimen developed and adopted by IMO. This may sometimes feel like an unnecessary burden to the ship industry. But IMO does not represent the transport industry. It represents the collective views and decisions of its 172 Member Governments ; and they represent the billions of average people, all over the world, who rely on shipping every day of their lives, whether they realize it or not. so, when IMO regulates about issues like discharge reductions, ship design and construction, cleaner fuel, ballast water system management, container safety and indeed on, the overall objective is to ensure that the people of the world can continue to enjoy the benefits of ship, in a manner that fully meets advanced expectations. And that is something everyone benefits from. Finding consensus on these and early issues, through a process of discussion among all stakeholders, is one of the great strengths of IMO. ship has to be regulated on a ball-shaped footing. Why is this thus important ? Because global regulations apply evenly to all. They do not allow anyone to gain an advantage either by cutting corners or by imposing unilateral requirements. They create a horizontal surface play battlefield. And, possibly most importantly, they ensure that ships have to comply with the same rules and technical standards wherever in the world they operate and careless of which flag they fly. clearly there has to be a common approach, so that ships can trade around the universe and that countries receiving foreign ships can be confident that they do not place their own safety, security and environmental integrity at an unreasonable risk by accepting them. These are significant principles. Everybody suffers if they are undermined, not just the ship industry but the billions of people all over the world who depend on it. last, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to finish with a message to the many students among the consultation here today. We live in an changeable world and so frequently I find myself dealing with problems and difficulties. But when I look around at all of you here nowadays, studying to improve your own lives and to make a positive contribution to in the years to come, I very feel a potent sense of optimism and a bright future ahead.
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I wish you every success in your lives, whatever you decide to do, and hope that many of you will play your part in bringing about the better, inclusive future that we are all ferment towards. Thank you