International Maritime Organization

and model of Queen Mary 2 in the lobby of the IMO Headquarters In February–March 1948 the United Nations Maritime Conference in Geneva institutionalized the regulation of the safety of shipping into an international framework. When IMCO began its operations in 1959 certain other pre-existing conventions were brought under its aegis, most notably the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL) from 1954. Under the guidance of IMCO, the convention was amended in 1962, 1969, and 1971. This incident prompted a series of new conventions. As well as updates to MARPOL and SOLAS, the IMO facilitated several updated international maritime conventions, including the International Convention on Load Lines in 1966 (replacing an earlier 1930 Convention), the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea in 1972 (also replacing an earlier set of rules) and the STCW Convention in 1978. Sea transportation is one of few industrial areas that still commonly uses non-metric units such as the nautical mile (nmi) for distance and knots (kn) for speed or velocity. In November 1975, the IMCO Assembly, as a part of comprehensive review of the Convention, decided to rename it as the International Maritime Organization (IMO); after ratifications, this happened in May 1982. Throughout its existence, the IMO has continued to produce new and updated conventions across a wide range of maritime issues covering not only safety of life and marine pollution but also encompassing safe navigation, search and rescue, wreck removal, tonnage measurement, liability and compensation, ship recycling, the training and certification of seafarers, and piracy. More recently SOLAS has been amended to bring an increased focus on maritime security through the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. The IMO has also increased its focus on smoke emissions from ships. In 1983, the IMO established the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden and also facilitated the adoption of the IGC Code. In 2025, the IMO updated its logo to all six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish). ==Headquarters==

The IMO headquarters is a large purpose-built building facing the River Thames on the Albert Embankment, in Lambeth, London. The organization moved into its new headquarters in late 1982, with the building being officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 May 1983. The front of the building is dominated by a seven-metre high, ten-tonne bronze sculpture of the bow of a ship, with a lone seafarer maintaining a look-out. ==Structure==

The IMO consists of an Assembly, a Council and five main Committees. Governance of IMO The governing body of the International Maritime Organization is the Assembly which meets every two years. In between Assembly sessions a Council, consisting of 40 Member States elected by the Assembly, acts as the governing body. The technical work of the International Maritime Organization is carried out by a series of Committees. The Secretariat consists of some 300 international civil servants headed by a Secretary-General. The Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez took office for a four year term on 1 January 2024, having been elected in July 2023. The previous Secretary-General was Kitack Lim from South Korea elected for a four-year term at the 114th session of the IMO Council in June 2015 and at the 29th session of the IMO's Assembly in November 2015. His mandate started on 1 January 2016. At the 31st session of the Assembly in 2019 he was re-appointed for a second term, ending on 31 December 2023. Technical committees The technical work of the International Maritime Organization is carried out by five principal Committees: The Committees meet once or twice a year attended by Member States and NGOs. The committees are: • Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW) • Sub-Committee on Implementation of IMO Instruments (III) • Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) • Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) • Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Construction (SDC) • Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) • Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC). The names of the IMO sub-committees were changed in 2013. Prior to 2013 there were nine Sub-Committees as follows: • Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG) • Carriage of Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers(DSC) • Fire Protection (FP) • Radio-communications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR) • Safety of Navigation (NAV) • Ship Design and Equipment (DE) • Stability and Load Lines and Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF) • Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW) • Flag State Implementation (FSI) ==Membership==

To join the IMO, a state ratifies a multilateral Convention on the International Maritime Organization. As of 2025, there are 176 member states of the IMO, which includes 175 of the UN member states plus the Cook Islands. The first state to ratify the convention was Canada in October 1948, but it took until March 1958 when Egypt and Japan brought the number of parties to 21, required by the Convention. in 1963 they became part of Malaysia. The most recent new members are Armenia (landlocked, January 2018), Nauru (May 2018), Botswana (landlocked, October 2021) and, on 27 February 2024, landlocked Kyrgyzstan became the 176th Member State of the organization. Most UN member states that are not members of IMO are landlocked countries. These include Afghanistan, Andorra, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Eswatini, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Federated States of Micronesia, an island-nation in the Pacific Ocean, is also a non-member. Taiwan, as Republic of China, was a member of the IMCO from 1958 until UN changed its recognition to People's Republic of China in 1971; its later attempts to join IMO were blocked, although it has a major shipping industry. ==Legal instruments==

IMO is the source of approximately 60 legal instruments that guide the regulatory development of its member states to improve safety at sea, facilitate trade among seafaring states and protect the maritime environment. The most well known is the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), as well as International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Others include the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC). It also functions as a depository of yet to be ratified treaties, such as the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996 (HNS Convention) and Nairobi International Convention of Removal of Wrecks (2007). IMO regularly enacts regulations, which are broadly enforced by national and local maritime authorities in member countries, such as the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG). The IMO has also enacted a Port state control (PSC) authority, allowing domestic maritime authorities such as coast guards to inspect foreign-flag ships calling at ports of the many port states. Memoranda of Understanding (protocols) were signed by some countries unifying Port State Control procedures among the signatories. • Marpol Annex I • SOLAS Convention • IMDG Code • ISM Code • ISPS Code • Polar Code • IGC Code • IBC Code • TDC Code • International Code on Intact Stability • INF Code • International Grain Code • IMSBC Code • STCW Convention • International Code of Signalsmandatory for carriage on ships and used for communications between all ships, including merchant vessels and naval vessels • International Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM Convention) • International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC Convention) • International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR Convention) • International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) • HNS Convention • International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) • International Convention on Load Lines (CLL) • International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND92) • Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) • International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention) • Athens Convention (PAL) • Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks • Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic • The Casualty Investigation Codeenacted through Resolution MSC.255(84), of 16 May 2008. The full title is Code of the International Standards and Recommended Practices for a Safety Investigation into a maritime casualty or incident. ==Current priorities==

Recent initiatives at the IMO have included amendments to SOLAS, which among other things, included upgraded fire protection standards on passenger ships, the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seamen (STCW) which establishes basic requirements on training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers and to the Convention on the Prevention of Maritime Pollution (MARPOL 73/78), which required double hulls on all tankers. Environmental issues GHG emissions The IMO has a role in tackling international climate change. The First Intersessional Meeting of IMO's Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships took place in Oslo, Norway (June 2008), tasked with developing the technical basis for the reduction mechanisms that may form part of a future IMO regime to control greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, and a draft of the actual reduction mechanisms themselves, for further consideration by IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). The IMO participated in the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris seeking to establish itself as the "appropriate international body to address greenhouse gas emissions from ships engaged in international trade". Nonetheless, there has been widespread criticism of the IMO's relative inaction since the conclusion of the Paris conference, with the initial data-gathering step of a three-stage process to reduce maritime greenhouse emissions expected to last until 2020. In 2018, the Initial IMO Strategy on the reduction of GHG emissions from ships was adopted. In April 2025, the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) approved net-zero regulations for the global shipping industry to reach net-zero GHG emissions in the shipping industry by or around 2050. The changes would require that from 2028, shipowners would be required to use cleaner fuels or face a carbon pricing mechanism. However, in October 2025, at a 2nd extraordinary session, adoption of the amendments to MARPOL Annex VI to bring the regulations into force were delayed to a future session. Ballast water management The IMO has also taken action to mitigate the global effects of ballast water and sediment discharge, through the 2004 Ballast Water Management Convention, which entered into force in September 2017. Biofouling In April 2025, at the IMO MEPC 83 meeting, the IMO agreed to develop a legally binding framework for controlling and managing ships’ biofouling to reduce the accumulation of marine organisms on the hulls of ships and thereby reduce the transfer of invasive aquatic species. Controlling ship's biofouling also improves the environmental efficiency of ships by reducing drag resistance. Maritime safety The IMO's e-Navigation system has harmonized marine navigation systems with supporting shore services, as available to seamen and shore-side traffic services called. An e-Navigation strategy was ratified in 2005, and an implementation plan was developed through three IMO sub-committees. The plan was completed by 2014 and implemented in November of that year. On 1 January 2011, ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display Information Systems) were made mandatory for new ships and for existing ships subject to a phased update process which was completed on 1 July 2018. In December 2023, the IMO adopted a resolution targeting "Shadow fleet" ("dark fleet") tankers that form a risk by undertaking illegal and unsafe activities at sea. Primarily working for Iran and Russia to breach international sanctions, the tankers, many of which are elderly and unreliable, often undertake mid ocean transfers in an attempt to evade sanctions. The resolution calls upon flag states to "adhere to measures which lawfully prohibit or regulate" the transfer of cargoes at sea, known as ship-to-ship transfers. In June 2025, the IMO adopted amendments to SOLAS Regulation V/23 on improving pilot ladder safety, including associated new Performance Standards for pilot transfer arrangements (to take effect 1 January 2028). Fishing safety The IMO Cape Town Agreement is an international International Maritime Organization legal instrument established in 2012, that sets out minimum safety requirements for fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and over or equivalent in gross tons. The Agreement is expected to come into force in February 2027, one year after Argentina ratified the Agreement. ==See also==