As Efthimios E. Mitropoulos begins his first four-year tenure as the seventh Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation, he is under no illusion that there are a number of key areas that will underlie what the IMO does in the near future and beyond. The first, he says, is to concentrate on the implementation of existing standards rather than the development of new ones.
"There is a discernable groundswell among IMO Members, the shipping industry, its customers and the general public calling not just for standards to be implemented properly but also that they should be seen to have been implemented properly. And where this is not happening, there should be transparency and perhaps even sanctions." Adm. Mitropolous sees the Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme as crucial in this regard and is committed to ensuring that he does all he possibly can to give it the backing it needs.
Among other specific areas of his concern is the acute shortage of seafarers. Referring to a study carried out by BIMCO and the International Shipping Federation which suggests a shortfall of 16,000 officers worldwide, he says the situation may become worse by the year 2010, when a shortage of both officers (46,000) and ratings is predicted. "We have to try to do something about this problem before it becomes insurmountable," warns the former Director of IMO's Maritime Safety Division.
Imprisonment of seafarers
He is also concerned about the detention of seafarers serving on ships involved in accidental pollution incidents, and although recognising the complexities of the issue and fully respecting the independence of the judiciary in countries that have suffered as a result of accidents, he believes the prolonged imprisonment will deter many from pursuing a career at sea.
He told DNV Forum: "I am concerned about the seafarers of the world who may justifiably fear for their future livelihoods following an accident involving the ships on which they serve and I am concerned about the impact an act of detention may have on the global campaign to attract young people to the maritime profession." Perhaps another detriment to the recruitment of seafarers is the tainted image of the industry due to the irresponsible few that operate sub-standard ships.
Piraeus-born Adm. Mitropoulos concurs, and is very much leading the fight to eliminate sub-standard performance in shipping, whether it be sub-standard ships, seafarers, ship operators, classification societies, administrations or anyone else who plays a part in holding the safety chain together. It is a challenge we relish and in which I am confident we will succeed."
The Member State Audit Scheme will be a particularly useful tool in this regard and has been developed to raise standards universally. "The impetus is coming from within IMO, where there are strong calls from the membership to establish a mechanism whereby they can assess their performance as Flag, Port and Coastal States, with a view to identifying exactly where improvements need to be made."
It is envisaged that the scheme will address issues such as a Member State's conformance in enacting appropriate legislation for the IMO instruments to which it is a Party; the administration and enforcement of the applicable laws and regulations of the Member State; the delegation of authority by a Member State in terms of the implementation of convention requirements; and the control and monitoring mechanism of the Member State's survey and certification processes and of its recognised organisations.
Speeding up the process
The Scheme is also expected to go some way in speeding up the process of Members' implementation of IMO measures. Adm. Mitropoulos explained the Audit scheme's far-reaching effects: Not only could it help identify where capacity-building activities would have the greatest effect, particularly in the developing world, but it would also enable appropriate action to be much more precisely targeted. Individual Member States themselves would receive valuable feedback and, on a wider scale, generic lessons learnt from audits could be provided to all Member States so that the benefits could be shared, and the regulatory process at IMO could also benefit from the results of this learning experience.
"One further thought on the question of speeding up IMO processes: most Conventions have an in-built time lag for amendments to come into force, through the tacit amendment procedure, once they have been adopted. If the contracting Governments choose to, they could elect to shorten these periods. The Conventions belong to States parties and they can change them if there is a will to do so."
The Secretary-General, who sees his role akin to that of a politician, diplomat or chief executive officer who leads by example, motivating, inspiring, taking initiatives and providing full strategic and policy direction, is fully committed to the Audit Scheme, to the extent that he has put it under his 'personal supervision'. "The aim is to ensure that the impetus and enthusiasm with which early proposals for the scheme have been greeted are maintained and translated into positive and tangible results" he asserts.
Class work
On the question of class and the work that the societies do, Adm. Mitropoulos makes it perfectly clear that there has never been any suggestion that IMO would take over the detailed work of the classification societies. "What is being examined," he admits, "is the notion that IMO would develop 'goal-based' standards for ships construction and equipment; which means that IMO would state what has to be achieved, but would not be involved in the details of precisely how this should be done."
He says that this would leave classification societies, naval architects, engineers and ship builders the freedom to decide on how best to employ their professional skills in order to meet the required standards. It would also be possible to benefit from the wealth of expertise within the technical organizations and classification societies when drawing up the standards. "But the key factor is that the standards would be internationally agreed, transparent and capable of being monitored by national administrations."
The IMO Secretary-General told DNV Forum that, to push the idea forward, an item has been added to the work programme of the Maritime Safety Committee and that interested Governments and international organisations have been invited to submit specific proposals on goal-based standards and design philosophies to help clarify and define their meaning.
"I think the idea in principle is a sound one and I am keen to support the membership in bringing the idea to fruition," he said.