Efthimios Mitropoulos, General Secretary of the International Maritime Organization, presents to
Aegean News the organization's role, achievements, and challenges in today's maritime environment

Shipping carries more than 90 per cent
of world trade, largely because ships
enjoy unrivalled superiority over all other
modes of transport when it comes to
carrying massive quantities of cargo cost-
effectively, cleanly and safely

   Today, IMO has 170 Member States and three Associate Members with a host of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations also participating actively in its work. Our formal mission statement is 'Safe, Secure and Efficient Shipping on Clean Oceans' and, like all good mission statements, it is characterized by simplicity, although behind it lies a detailed, and sometimes complex structure designed with the sole purpose of achieving those ends.
   Among the many topics that have been high on IMO's agenda in recent years, two in particular – piracy and climate change – have been of particular concern, capturing the attention of a wider audience beyond the shipping community.
   The escalation of piracy in recent years has prompted IMO to make combating it a central theme of our work this year. In collaboration with industry and seafarer representative organizations, we devised a multi-faceted action plan, designed to address the problem at several levels. Although the waters off the coast of Somalia and in the wider Indian Ocean constitute the current piracy "hot spot", our action plan draws heavily on the Organization's considerable experience of tackling piracy in other parts of the world, most notably in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore and in the South China Sea.
   One IMO initiative that is helping to build a solid regional infrastructure to tackle the problem successfully in the long term is the Djibouti Code of Conduct. This has now been signed by 18 States, each of which has pledged to co-operate in the implementation of measures aimed at suppressing piracy, including in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of pirates; the interdiction and seizure of suspect ships; the rescue of ships, persons and property subject to piracy and armed robbery and the facilitation of proper care, treatment and repatriation of piracy victims; and in sharing operations – both among signatory States and with navies from countries outside the region; and the s-

cause concern, there is, nevertheless, some cause for optimism. The percentage of attempted attacks that prove successful for the pirates has dropped, from more than 40 per cent historically, to less than 20 per cent this year – testimony, no doubt, to the effectiveness both of the naval presence in the region and of the best management practices for ships developed by the industry and promulgated through IMO. Through our action plan and other initiatives, and in collaboration with other interested parties, we feel confident we will be able to make a difference where the problem is being most acutely felt – at sea.
   The other major issue that occupies much of IMO's time nowadays is our work to establish a regulatory regime to control and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases – GHGs – from shipping. Although shipping is comparatively clean, environment friendly and energy-efficient, it, nevertheless, remains dependent on burning fossil fuels and is, therefore, a contributor, however relatively small, to current levels of emissions of GHGs and air pollutants into the atmosphere.
   In July this year, parties to Annex VI of our principal environmental treaty – the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) – adopted the first-ever mandatory and global GHG reduction regime for an

The need for an international agency to regulate shipping stems from the fact that shipping is perhaps the most international of all the world's global industries

international industry sector. Among other things, this makes mandatory two technical/operational measures, the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships.
   The control of GHG emissions from shipping has been a complex and difficult task from both a conceptual and a technical perspective. And, in this instance, the political aspects of the issue proved just as difficult, if not more so.
   In the end, the measures were duly adopted, and the fact that representatives of so many Governments were able to reach decisions on complicated issues of great importance to the environment, not only bears testimony to the responsible manner with which IMO addresses environmental matters, but also to the great results that can be achieved when States, with the same concerns and determination to produce meaningful solutions to global problems, work together. The co-operation of the shipping

industry and environmental groups was also of great value in this process.
   These new measures are a landmark for the Organization, which has now delivered a positive contribution to worldwide efforts to stem climate change and, indeed, for the international community. IMO's groundbreaking achievement in this respect was acknowledged by both UNFCCC Executive DirectorChristiana Figueres and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonwho concluded that"IMO is best positioned to play a leadership role in addressing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping".
   And, now that good results have been obtained in our efforts to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping by means of a series of technical and operational measures included in MARPOL Annex VI, IMO will focus its endeavours towards achieving equally good results in the third, and final, pillar of the agreed work plan, namely market-based measures. Further progress on these is expected during the course of next year.
   As mentioned earlier, IMO's work embraces so many other areas than just those that tend to grab the headlines. This will be emphasized in 2012, the year that will mark the 100th anniversary of the 'Titanic' disaster. Though dreadful at the time, and attended as it was by such a large loss of life, this can, nevertheless, be looked back on as something of a watershed for safety at sea. The 'Titanic' disaster prompted a new way of thinking about maritime safety, an acceptance that ships are not simply "out of sight, out of mind" once they leave port – and certainly not unsinkable. The most direct result of the sinking of the 'Titanic' was the adoption, in 1914, of the first-ever Safety of Life at Sea Convention – and, of course, it is SOLAS, albeit much revised and updated ever since, that shapes so much of what the shipping industry does nowadays on the safety front.
   So, we have chosen "IMO: One hundred years after the 'Titanic'" as the World Maritime Day theme for 2012. We will use it as an opportunity to put the spotlight once again on IMO's roots and raison d'être, safety at sea – an area in which the results of the collective efforts of IMO (as the industry's regulatory body); the Organization's Member Governments (acting as flag, port and coastal States); the shipowners; and the seafarers, are already impressive and should be recognized with due appreciation.
   Looking further ahead, it is difficult to envisage IMO moving away from what it does best: serving those who rely on shipping, from the safety, security and environmental protection points of view, efficiently and effectively. But for it to be able to do so, it must continue to keep pace with developments in the industry and in the wider environment in