2024 also marks 50 years since the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), was adopted.
Image: United Nations / IMO.
Today the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) celebrate World Maritime Day 2024, focusing on the theme Navigating the Future: Safety First!, highlighting the IMO's commitment to enhancing maritime safety and security while protecting the marine environment.
As the maritime industry faces rapid technological advancements and new challenges, the choice of theme for this year's World Maritime Day underscores the need for regulatory frameworks that can keep pace with innovation while maintaining safety and efficiency in global shipping, the UN said.
"The theme provides the opportunity to focus on the full range of safety regulatory implications arising from new and adapted technologies and the introduction of alternative fuels including measures to reduce GHG emissions from ships, as IMO strives to ensure the safety and efficiency of shipping are maintained, and potentially improved, so that the flow of seaborne international trade continues to be smooth and efficient," the UN stated.
Several initiatives are being held to commemorate the occasion, including the WMO-IMO Symposium on Extreme Maritime Weather, taking place 23-26 September 2024 at IMO Headquarters in London. The event, hosted jointly by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the IMO, brings together the meteorology, oceanography and maritime communities to work together on finding solutions to this challenge. The event can be watched live on Youtube.
In her address opening the symposium, WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett highlighted the impacts of climate change on the maritime sector, including sea level rise effects on ports, extreme weather, and warming in the polar regions reducing Arctic Sea ice.
“Climate change affects maritime operations, whether at sea or in harbours and ports…. It is vitally important that WMO and meteorological services work closely with the IMO and the maritime community to meet joint challenges and to improve efficiency and safety,” she said.
Next month, a celebratory parallel event marking World Maritime Day will also take place 20-22 October in Barcelona, hosted by the Spanish Government, where further discussions and developments related to maritime safety, innovation, and sustainability are expected to take place.
World Maritime Day 2024 logo, with the theme "Navigating the Future: Safety First!"