“One hundred years after the Titanic” selected as World Maritime Day 2012 theme

Today, the International Maritime Organization announced that it has selected “one hundred years after the Titanic” as the theme for World Maritime Day 2012.  “The time has come for us to return to this Organization’s roots and raison d’être, i.e. safety of life at sea,” IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said in a statement posted on the IMO website.

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912, in which 1,503 people lost their lives, forced the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (the SOLAS Convention) just two years later.  The 1914 version was gradually superseded, respectively, by SOLAS 1929, SOLAS 1948, SOLAS 1960 (the first adopted under the auspices of IMO, then known as IMCO) and SOLAS 1974.  SOLAS 1974 is still in force today, amended and updated many times.

Mr. Mitropoulos said the selection of the theme proposed would provide an opportunity to:

• take stock of improvements in maritime safety during the 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic;
• pay tribute to the memory of those, who lost their lives in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic on that fatal night of 14 April 1912;
• highlight that the sacrifice of so many of the Titanic (passengers and crew) has not gone in vain;
• examine whether the lessons drawn from amongst the most costly (in human lives lost) accidents of the last 100 years have been learnt to the full;
• examine the safety record of shipping and identify those areas that have contributed the most to its improvement over the years;
• identify the most contributory factors (systems, concepts, mechanisms, etc) in the quest for ever-enhanced safety in shipping;
• examine which areas, within the overall spectrum of maritime safety (constructional, operational, cargo, human element, etc.), should be given priority consideration in the years to come;  and
• pay tribute to all those who, in the course of the 100 years, have contributed to improvements in maritime safety.

What do you think? Is “one hundred years after the Titanic” a good theme for the next World Maritime Day?

Via IMO

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