IALA brings together representatives of the aids to navigation services of about 80 countries for technical coordination, information sharing, and coordination of improvements to aids to
navigation throughout the world. It was established in 1957 to provide a permanent organization to support the goals of the
Technical Lighthouse Conferences, which had been convening since 1929. The General Assembly of IALA meets about every four years. The council of 24 members meets twice a year to oversee the ongoing programs. Four committees maintain work programs established for four year periods: • DTEC – digital technologies; • ARM – Aids to Navigation Requirements and Management – concentrating on management issues experienced by members; • ENG – Engineering and Sustainability – concentrating on the engineering aspects of all aids to navigation and their impact on the environment, the committee is also in charge of overseeing the IALA activities regarding the preservation of historic lighthouses and equipment; • VTS – Vessel Traffic Services – concentrating on all issues surrounding VTS IALA committees provide important documentation to the
International Hydrographic Organization and other international organizations, while the IALA Secretariat acts as a clearing house for the exchange of technical information, and organizes seminars and technical support for developing countries. Its principal work since 1973 has been the implementation of the
IALA Maritime Buoyage System. This system replaced some 30 dissimilar buoyage systems in use throughout the world with 2 major systems. This rationalised system was introduced as a result of two accidents in the
Dover Straits in 1971
when the Brandenburg hit the wreck of the
Texaco Caribbean off
Folkestone and sank although the wreck was accurately buoyed. A short while later the
Niki also struck the
Texaco Caribbean and sank, despite the wreckage being adequately marked. The combined loss of lives in these two accidents was 51 persons. Although the international agreement of 1982 implementing a harmonized buoyage system is a major achievement for IALA the Organization, through its committees, carried out a lot of works in other directions resulting in innovating techniques being adopted all over the world, such as the AIS (Automatic Identification System), DGNSS (Differential Global Navigation System) and many others. Its future achievement is likely to be the implementation of the e-navigation. e-navigation does not aim at ships being electronically operated but gathering and displaying all navigation information through connected sources of information and harmonized data exchange. IALA is based near Paris in
Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
France. After 10 years of diplomatic effects and conferences' efforts, on 22 August 2024, IALA transited its status from
Non-governmental Organization to
Intergovernmental Organization. == Membership ==