World Maritime Day focuses on security

Malta yesterday joined the over 160 member states of the International Maritime Organisation in marking World Maritime Day. The theme chosen by IMO this year is Focus on Maritime Security.

World Maritime Day was set up by the IMO in 1978 and national governments commemorate it during the last week of September. Various themes were covered in the past 26 years such as safety and welfare of seafarers, cleaner seas and safer oceans, search and rescue and telecommunications in shipping.

The September 11 attacks and the terrorist attack on the French tanker Limburg off Yemen and the Madrid train bombings demonstrated the vulnerability of transport infrastructures of the world, be they national or international, to terrorist attacks.

The ensuing discussions within IMO resulted in the launch of the International Ship and Port Facility Safety and Security Code (ISPS), which entered into force worldwide last July.

In his message marking the occasion, IMO secretary general Efthimios Mitropoulos said the IMO had been giving due attention to security as early as the 1970s to combat acts of barratry, the unlawful seizure of ships and piracy.

A further catalyst to combat terrorism came from the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, prompting IMO's Maritime Safety Committee to draw up technical measures to prevent unlawful acts which threaten the safety of ships and their passengers. This resulted in the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts - the SUA Convention - that came into force in 1992. Malta is a party to this Convention.