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"IMO's priorities are often described in the slogan 'safer shipping and cleaner oceans'," Mr O'Neil stressed.
Noting that nobody could predict precisely what would happen in the shipping world during the next few years, Mr O'Neil said there were indications that, from a safety point of view, IMO should be especially vigilant.
He said until recently, the indications were that IMO's efforts to improve safety and reduce pollution were paying off.
The rate of serious casualties was falling and the amount of oil and other pollutants entering the sea was decreasing quite dramatically.
"But recently there has been a disturbing rise in accidents and our fear is, if nothing is done, that the progress we have diligently fought for over the last few decades will be lost," said Mr O'Neil.
To avert the this danger, IMO has taken a number of actions:
set up a special sub-committee to improve the way IMO regulations are implemented by flag states;
encouraged the establishment of regional port state control arrangements so that all countries which have ratified IMO conventions and have the right to inspect foreign ships to make sure that they meet IMO requirements and can do this more effectively;
adopted a new mandatory International Safety Management Code to improve standards of management and especially to make sure that safety and environmental issues are never overlooked or ignored; and
adopted amendments recently to the convention dealing with standards of training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers. The convention has been modernised and restructured, but most important of all, new provisions have been introduced which will help to make sure that the convention is properly implemented.
When these and other measures were added together they made an impressive package that should make a significant contribution to safety and pollution prevention in the years to come, Mr O'Neil said.
End/Tuesday, September 26, 1995
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