This chapter is to become familiar
with the origins of the international
agreements on maritime trade the role of
the IMO the International Maritime
Organization soul us 74 and Marco 7378
in april nineteen twelve the liner
titanic struck an iceberg and sank more
than 1,500 passengers and crew died
the following year and international
conference was held in london and in
1914 the first international convention
for the safety of life at sea or so lass
was adopted and signed by
representatives of the world's leading
maritime nations it included regulations
on navigation ship construction
life-saving appliances and emergency
communications
one basic problem was that there was no
international organization which could
coordinate and monitor the measures
drawn up by these conventions an example
relevant to this program was that the
labels identifying and categorizing
dangerous goods different from country
to country
the formation of the United Nations
Organization provided the opportunity
for creating just such a specialized
marine agency and the resulting
inter-governmental maritime consultative
organization or imco came into being in
1959
the new organization drew up a new
version of the International Convention
for the safety of life at sea the most
important of all treaties dealing with
maritime safety and then turned its
attention to the carriage of dangerous
goods producing the first edition of the
International Maritime dangerous goods
code in 1965 in 1982 the imco changed
its name to the International Maritime
Organization or as it is more commonly
referred to the IM Oh
the IMO is responsible for keeping a
number of codes dealing with dangerous
goods up-to-date these include the imdg
code
the bc code or code of safe practice for
solid black cargos
the ibc code or internet
small code for the construction and
equipment of ships carrying dangerous
chemicals in bulk for ships constructed
after the first of July 1986
the igc code or international code for
the construction and equipment of ships
carrying liquefied gases in bulk for
ships constructed after the first of
July 1986
the International Convention for the
safety of life at sea 1974 is the
current so last convention and came into
force in 1980 a series of amendments
also applies chapter 7 of soul us 74
covers the carriage of dangerous goods
by sea the International Convention for
the prevention of pollution from ships
was passed by the IMO in 1973 and
modified by the protocol of 1978 the
convention and the protocol are known as
Marple 7378 the series of amendments
also applies an x3 of marpol 7378 deals
with the prevention of pollution by
harmful substances carried by see in
packaged form in 1985 and x3 was aligned
with the imd g-code there by introducing
the implications of marine pollution to
the carriage of dangerous goods
the relevant sections in the solace and
Marple conventions concerned with the
carriage of dangerous goods by sea lay
down the guidelines and the IMO through
its committee structure produces the
detailed provisions and codes of
practice
the imdg code includes the sectional
training for sure based personnel
amendment 3408 made such training
mandatory instead of just recommended
and may be audited by the competent
authority persons who have not been
trained may only operate under the
direct supervision of a trained person
trainings will be appropriate planned
and commensurate with responsibility
shall establish a general understanding
of the provisions of the code job and
task-specific competence and safety
awareness and a knowledge of emergency
procedures for personnel on ships
carrying dangerous goods many of the
specific procedures discussed in this
program will already have been addressed
when a package is loaded on board
however training in the handling of such
cargoes will form part of your company's
safety management system and will
enhance both operational performance and
personal safety
the imdg code has a section on so
charity but we must also refer to the
international ship and port facility
security code generally referred to as
the ISPs code for such guidance