The International Maritime Organization’s mode of operation is being subjected to growing complaint in, at a time when nerves are stretched in the run-up to the global 0.5% sulphur cap on 1 January 2020.
The latest antagonists are Australia and the Liberian Register. In a press release issued last Wednesday, Scott Bergeron, chief executive of the Liberian Register confirmed the flag’s support for an initiative by Australia calling on the IMO to reconsider transparency and the role of industry bodies in the organization.
The Australian submission states that discussions at IMO should be more open to the public and other stakeholders. It also refers to the decreasing accessibility of discussions and decisions within the IMO Council and assembly for both member states and the public.
Asked why Liberia had chosen to join Australia’s initiative, Mr Bergeron told hongkongmaritimehub:
“We view the Australian led initiative as a starting point for long overdue discussion on Council reform.
“Like other member states, Liberia has been unsatisfied with the council structure as it has evolved over the years. As discussed with the potential IMO Secretary General candidates before the election, Liberia was interested to see discussion about this structure. This desire alongside recent criticism of the IMO processes makes for an opportune time to open up discussion within the IMO.
“Clearly Australia had similar sentiments about the timing and we agreed to support their initiative. “We believe that there are other member states with similar sentiments,” he added.
Mr Bergeron appeared to take a step back from an earlier statement when he said Liberia did not necessarily buy into claims by certain NGOs that regulatory developments lacked member state control, or the equally serious allegation that the IMO was subject to improper influence by trade associations, but he did agree that “there is room for improvement in transparency of the processes involved.”
In the original press release Mr Bergeron is quoted: “It is only right that we should lend our support to Australia’s push for reform in the light of concern from observers both within and outside the organization that the IMO decision-making process may not be fit for purpose in the 21st century and may moreover be susceptible to commercial influence.”
Mr Bergeron did however, insist that as a founding member of IMO Liberia has always been a committed and public supporter of the organization and would continue to be so.
The IMO/Australia initiative is the latest in a number of attacks on IMO. In an interview with this website in May this year the outgoing secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, Peter Hinchliffe hit out at what he called IMO’s tendency to stove pipe issues.
“There are some shortcomings in the way that the IMO has produced regulation over the last ten years. There is too much stove piping between regulations. The result is the IMO drafts regulations without assessing what impact it will have on everything we already have in place,” he said.
Also in May, leading Hong Kong Maritime lawyer, Rosita Lau slammed the organization for being slow to react with regulation fitting the rapidly changing shipping environment, specifically the emergence of cyber risk and digitalization.
Sources:hongkongmaritimehub
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