Background

To ensure safety of navigation, coastal states are obliged to provide measures to ships in accordance with the relevant conventions in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which came into force in 1994, and the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which entered into force in 1980. Such measures should include adequate hydrographical services, navigational aids, meteorological services and navigational warnings.

Safe and efficient shipping depends on the ability to plan and execute a safe voyage and, in this respect, innocent passage and freedom of navigation are crucial. Furthermore, efficient shipping depends on the possibility to choose the most energy efficient routes to reduce emissions from ships.

IMO has developed a plan to implement enhanced navigation (e-Navigation) with the aim to improve safety of navigation and to reduce errors by establishing modern and proven tools onboard ships and ashore that are optimised for good decision making.

Government use of AIS signals to track ships for compliance purposes is becoming the norm.

BIMCO’s position statement

• BIMCO acknowledges the need to allocate areas for various activities at sea. Such allocations are supported providing the spatial planning is based on a risk assessment of ships’ safety and takes into account the importance of efficient passage. Efficient passage means the shortest, safe safe route thereby minimising bunker consumption and air emissions.
• IMO should continue to coordinate the development and implementation of e-Navigation solutions. The focus should be on the human element for example the user interface and the use of value-added data communication and services.
• Government use of AIS signals to track ships should not impede on the master’s right to switch off AIS in accordance with IMO Resolution A.1106(29) ie if the master believes that the continual operation of AIS might compromise the safety or security of the ship.
• Incidents of interrupted AIS transmissions should not give charterers the automatic right to terminate a time charter party on the mere assumption that any AIS “switch off” is linked to sanctions busting. BIMCO is developing a clause to ensure that the master’s legitimate right to switch off the AIS for valid security reasons is duly recognised by charterers.