The 22nd ordinary session of the IMSO Assembly was held last 25-28 June in London, chaired by Jean-Louis Bissuel of Monaco, who was elected by acclamation.
The Assembly also elected as vice-presidents the Philippines (Noel Fernandez, representing the Asia-Pacific region), Peru (Jorge Vargas, for the Americas region) and Ghana (Jemilat Mahamah, representative from Africa).
The main agenda issue concerned reorganisation of the IMSO Directorate, to ensure that the organisation is prepared to perform its functions, given that three senior staff members, including the director-general (DG), whose mandate ends on 14 April 2015, will retire or have their contracts expire within two or three years, especially with a view to significantly lowering its operating costs.
A solution compromising between the two submitted proposals was reached. One was from the DG (Esteban Pacha-Vicente of Spain), who advocated a more horizontal future structure; the other was a joint proposal from the USA, Canada, Chile and the Marshall Islands, defending a flexible horizontal structure and more substantial cutbacks in operating costs.
These measures should enable the organisation to achieve significant savings in the next four years, on the order of 35 percent, with steps taken to achieve a major fee reduction for the Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships (LRIT) system. The cost of the LRIT fee paid by states may even be cut in half, thereby meeting increased government concerns as well as demands manifested in recent years in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
The annual LRIT fee for IMSO’s audit of the system’s data centres, per its role as LRIT co-ordinator, should fall to 8,500 pounds in 2013 and 6,000 pounds in 2015/16.
Budget cuts were also approved from 2013 on (10 percent cut in travel and administration budgets). Indeed, the DG urged savings to be made in all possible areas. Although for the time being there is no aim to transfer the IMSO headquarters, the Assembly and Advisory Committee meetings will henceforth be held at the IMO, on a free basis, enabling additional savings.
New procedures were likewise adopted to ensure timely and prior approval of budgets for the Assembly, in force from 2015 on. The DG was mandated to study the possibility of eventually having a government as the organisation’s auditor.
Regarding the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), the Assembly noted that the International Maritime Satellite Organisation (INMARSAT) is still the only GMDSS provider recognised by the IMO, as GMDSS has yet to be extended to other operators, namely Iridium and the regional operator Thuraya. In his report to the Assembly the DG stated that he had annually reported to the IMO (COMSAR) INMARSAT’s fulfilment of its public service obligations. He highlighted the performance of GMDSS during the period from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2011, except for 22 October 2011, when service was interrupted in the Pacific due to loss of control of a third generation satellite, causing a break in service lasting two hours and 19 minutes, well beyond the limit permitted by the IMO (which allows a maximum interruption of only one hour).
The Assembly also elected a new Advisory Committee, which will have six more members than the previous one, bringing the total to 38. It will be chaired in the next two-year period by the Americas region (Jorge Vargas, Peru). Portugal will continue to take part in the Committee’s activities as an observer.
This Assembly was attended by representatives of 58 parties along with observers from Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Egypt and El Salvador, states which have already expressed their intention to join IMSO. Also present were observers from the IMO, European Commission, Comité International Radio-Maritime (CIRM) and Inmarsat. Mongolia, Palau and Yemen were welcomed as new members of the organisation, even though they were unable to be represented at the Assembly.
The next ordinary Assembly will meet in London in the last quarter of 2014. The new IMSO DG will be elected on that occasion.
