IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu meets with the new Chairman of IACS, Roberto Cazzulo, Chairman of RINA Services.
Mr. Sekimizu congratulated Mr. Cazzulo on his appointment and expressed his appreciation to IACS for its long and ongoing support of IMO’s work on maritime safety, security and the prevention of marine pollution by ships and stated that he looked forward to their continued co-operation. IACS has held consultative status with IMO since 1969.
At the meeting, held at IMO Headquarters in London, Mr. Cazzulo informed Mr. Sekimizu that IACS has agreed to instruct an advisory group of its experts to have an open discussion and exchange of information on the state of the art of containership structural design, construction, operation and survey. Mr. Sekimizu expressed his appreciation at the formation of this group by IACS, which he considered particularly timely and welcome.
Following the MOL Comfort incident, which suffered structural failure and broke into two sections, during heavy seas, off the coast of Yemen, last month, Mr. Sekimizu, in a letter to His Excellency Mr. Eldred E. Bethel, High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Court of St. James and Permanent Representative of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to IMO, acknowledged the efforts already made by the Government of The Bahamas in commencing the marine safety investigation into the incident and looked forward to the submission of any findings and recommendations at the earliest opportunity. He also pledged the Organization’s assistance to the Bahamas, should they require any support.