The United Nations agency that writes the rules for ships: inside the IMO

Background

Attacks on merchant ships and the safety of busy sea lanes keep shipping in the news, and the body that sets the rules for it is a United Nations agency. The International Maritime Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations that looks after the safety and security of shipping and works to stop ships polluting the sea. It describes itself as the body that sets the global standards for international shipping, and its purpose is to have one framework applied evenly everywhere so that no operator can profit by cutting corners on safety. Its rules reach across the whole life of a vessel, covering how a ship is designed, how it is built, what equipment it carries, how it is crewed, how it is operated and how it is finally disposed of.