IMO PaperSmart Meeting Restructures Sub-Committees
The IMO Council, meeting for its 109th session in London has endorsed, in principle, a restructuring of IMO's Sub-Committees. The Council meeting was the first āPaperSmartā meeting for the Organization, and was considered a success by delegates. Delegates were invited to make the meeting "paperless" (PaperSmart), to reduce costs and make IMO meetings "environment friendly". Delegates were asked to come to the meeting with their own laptops, tablet computers, etc., together with their own Internet cables to connect to wired access points in the main meeting room. An enhanced wireless facility (Wifi) was provided for improved wireless access to the IMO documents site (IMODOCS) and to the Internet. The restructuring is part of a review and reform process initiated by Secretary-General Mr.
IMO Addresses Policy on Places of Refuge
What happens when a ship in distress requires a "place of refuge"? In the aftermath of the incident involving the fully laden tanker Castor which, in December 2000, developed a structural problem in the Mediterranean Sea, IMO Secretary-General William O'Neil suggested that the time had come for the Organization to undertake, as a matter of priority, a global consideration of the problem of places of refuge for disabled vessels and adopt any measures required to ensure that, in the interests of safety of life at sea and environmental protection, coastal States reviewed their contingency arrangements so that such ships are provided with assistance and facilities as might be required in the circumstances.
