London hosted last 25-28 November the 23rd ordinary session of the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) Assembly, chaired by Enrique Manalo of the Philippines, who was elected by acclamation.
The Assembly agenda included elections for the post of IMSO director general (DG), resulting in selection of the Bangladeshi candidate, Moin Ahmed, who was picked in the last of four voting rounds with 49 votes (the runner-up, Marin Chintoan-Uta of Romania, received 37). Italy, Germany and France also presented candidates. The current DG, Esteban Pacha-Vicente of Spain, will remain in office until 14 April 2015.
As occurred two years ago, when far-reaching decisions about the IMSO directorate’s reorganisation were made with a view to streamlining and lowering its operational costs, the issue generated heated debate, especially the exit of the head of finance, administration and conferences, who must retire by the end of June 2015. Some parties, namely Malta and the Cook Islands, were especially concerned about the void left by the exit of three senior staff members in a short period of time.
For that reason, the Assembly ended up approving the proposal put forward by the aforementioned parties to endow the budget of the 2015-2016 biennium with a certain amount of flexibility, up to 4.5 percent, which will enable the contract of the head of finance, administration and conferences to be temporarily extended if the elected DG agrees with that recommendation from the Assembly.
Note that the future staff will have five members, one less than previously, following the elimination last August of the post of deputy director general; the respective duties have been assumed by the DG. The new DG will be the only person contracted internationally, with a reduced salary level – he was contracted at level D2, step 1. The post of head of administration (to be recruited in 2015) was maintained, though at a lower salary level. The post of (part-time) finance officer and administration assistant keep the respective salary levels.
The Assembly also approved the long range identification and tracking of ships (LRIT) rate corresponding to the annual audit of the system’s data centres to be carried out by the IMSO as LRIT coordinator. It results from a proposal originating in the directorate, which was improved by the United Kingdom at the last meeting of the IMSO Advisory Committee (AC) in September. It advocates the introduction of two weighting factors based on the basic rate – number of ships and number of flag states, respectively weighted 25 and 40 percent. The basis is a mathematical matrix that logarithmically distributes total LRIT costs. Note that this proposal was welcomed by representatives from the European Union (EU), which manages the LRIT system’s biggest data centre, coordinated by the Lisbon-based European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA). This LRIT rate will be in force in 2015 and 2016 and should be reviewed by the AC of IMSO.
Regarding the global maritime distress and safety system (GMDSS), the Assembly noted that Inmarsat continues to be the only IMO-recognised provider. However, preparations are under way to achieve IMO recognition (expected by 2018) of the North American operator Iridium as second GMDSS operator.
The Assembly also acknowledged the report from the Maritime Security Committee (IMO MSC 94), which met the previous week and agreed that IMSO should supply the NCSR subcommittee with a technical and operational evaluation of Iridium, in line with IMO Resolution A.1001(25), under supervision of that organisation’s secretariat. To that end, IMSO should summon a group of experts (10 experts were registered to date), informing the parties about those selected to carry out that evaluation.
IMO MSC 94 also considered that it was necessary to review the LRIT system’s financial viability and to consider cost-cutting options for the system audits. For the time being, the committee’s opinion was that the current default position-report transmission interval should not be changed.
The Assembly also elected a new AC, which will have one more member than the previous one, for a total of 39. Portugal will continue to take part in the AC’s activities as an observer.
A total of eighty-eight parties were represented in this Assembly, along with the party from Senegal as an observer and observers from Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire and Dominica, states which have expressed their interest in joining IMSO, as well as observers from the IMO, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), European Commission (EC), Comité International Radio-Maritime (CIRM), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO), EUTELSAT IGO, Inmarsat and Intersputnik.
The Assembly also elected as vice-chairs Italy (Vito Chirico, representing the European region), Argentina (Cynthia Mulville, for the Americas region) and Liberia (Armena Richards, representing Africa).
The next ordinary Assembly will be held in London in the last quarter of 2016.
