World Maritime Day 2024: steering towards a safer future amid fast maritime transformations

Because the maritime neighborhood prepares to navigate the waters of change, 2024’s World Maritime Day, celebrated on September 26, has introduced the theme “Navigating the longer term: security first” to the forefront, spotlighting the importance of security at sea in an period of appreciable transformations and new dangers. 

Kickstarted by the Worldwide Maritime Group (IMO), World Maritime Day has been noticed yearly on the final Thursday of September, serving as a reminder that maritime security, safety, and environmental safety play a ‘essential position’ in worldwide commerce and the worldwide economic system.

As disclosed, this 12 months’s theme attracts even nearer consideration to the notion that security, above all else, stays ‘paramount’ in a consistently shifting surroundings, whether or not that pertains to seafarers dealing with newest inexperienced fuels, safeguarding passengers in brand-new cruise ships or regulating AI-managed autonomous ships and guaranteeing cybersecurity in a digital world.

For the IMO, the 12 months 2024 marks a very special day. It has been precisely 50 years because the adoption ofthe Worldwide Conference for the Security of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the world’s chief treaty for the safety of service provider ships.

SOLAS: then and now

SOLAS was first adopted in 1914 as a direct response to the sinking of the RMS Titanic two years earlier than. The catastrophic occasion, which claimed the lives of over 1,500 individuals, uncovered appreciable shortcomings in maritime security rules and accentuated the necessity for world requirements that might defend passengers and crew at sea.

In recognition of this want, the SOLAS conference was developed to ascertain ‘complete’ security protocols, setting the inspiration for contemporary maritime security practices.

As per IMO, the SOLAS conference that’s in power at this time was adopted on November 1, 1974, and has undergone a number of amendments. It consists of 15 chapters that cowl a variety of essential matters, together with life-saving home equipment and preparations, misery and security communications, the carriage of harmful items, and the integrity of ship construction and stability.

“We might be happy with the essential position this conference has performed in setting worldwide security requirements for ship development, tools, and operation, stopping maritime disasters and defending lives,” mentioned Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-Basic of the IMO.

“However we can’t be complacent. World Maritime Day requires collective effort to make sure we maintain tempo with the continuing transformation in delivery. We should make sure the continued growth and implementation of the regulatory regime to prioritize security as we steer towards tomorrow.”

Over the previous 50 years, SOLAS has offered a framework to guard numerous lives. Nevertheless, now that 5 many years have handed, IMO remarked that the maritime neighborhood continues to be at a crossroads, going through fast technological developments, world safety challengers and the shift to inexperienced power.

In his message, United Nations Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres, identified that, because it steers towards higher digitalization, automation, and decarbonization, the maritime trade is certain to bear extra profound adjustments.

“New applied sciences and designs provide the chance to make essential contributions to local weather motion. I depend on the dedication of regulators, seafarers and ship operators alike,” he highlighted. 

Celebrating World Maritime Day

There might be a number of initiatives to mark this 12 months’s World Maritime Day. As disclosed, a type of occasions was the WMO-IMO symposium on excessive maritime climate, which passed off from September 23 to 26, 2024, at IMO Headquarters in London.

One other key spotlight, IMO has revealed, would be the World Maritime Day Parallel Occasion, which is hosted yearly in a special IMO Member State. This 12 months will probably be Spain.

The occasion is ready to held from October 20 to October 22, that includes a variety of audio system who will discover vital matters within the maritime trade.

Final 12 months, IMO’s theme for the World Maritime Day 2023 was “MARPOL at 50 – Our dedication goes on”. The theme mirrored upon the importance of the Worldwide Conference for the Prevention of Air pollution from Ships (MARPOL), which covers the prevention of air pollution of the marine surroundings by ships from operational or unintended causes. The 12 months earlier than that, IMO underscored “New applied sciences for greener delivery”.