Wedoany.com Report on Feb 12th, The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has recently launched a two-year global campaign to bridge the gap between maritime policy and practical implementation. The organization also announced the theme for World Maritime Day 2026-2027: "From Policy to Practice: Enabling Maritime Excellence". This initiative aims to ensure its global regulatory framework is consistently applied across ports, ships, and administrations worldwide.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez announced the campaign in a video message. He emphasized that international standards only prove their worth when implemented in daily operations. "When we talk about 'practice', we talk about people," he said, "including seafarers on board ships, port personnel, ship operations managers, ship recycling workers, port State control officers, and flag State administrators." Dominguez noted that for the maritime industry to achieve sustainable development, high standards must be universally applied, not selectively enforced.
The IMO's extensive conventions, rules, and guidelines underpin safe, secure, and environmentally sound shipping globally, but their effectiveness depends on how member states transpose and enforce these rules. According to audit results from the IMO Member State Audit Scheme, deficiencies exist in national legislation, oversight, and enforcement. These gaps increase the risks of non-compliant and unsafe shipping. The new global campaign aims to directly address these challenges by enhancing member states' understanding and implementation capacity of IMO instruments.
The campaign focuses on nine priority areas to drive the policy-to-practice shift: capacity building and technical cooperation; support for Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries; safety first through innovation; regulatory readiness for decarbonization; combating fraudulent registration and maritime fraud; audit-driven improvement; facilitation, digitalization, and resilience; cyber security and maritime security; and ocean protection beyond emissions. These areas cover all aspects from legal frameworks to daily operations to promote holistic progress in the maritime sector.
The IMO Secretariat will roll out a coordinated two-year action plan, including global and regional events, outreach activities, knowledge products, partnerships, and social media engagement. Member states and observer organizations are encouraged to organize related activities during 2026-2027 and share their outcomes with the Secretariat. Participants can also use the online hashtags #WorldMaritimeDay and #MaritimePolicyToPractice to amplify the discussion. Dominguez concluded his message by calling on the maritime community to turn decisions into tangible results, emphasizing the critical shift from policy to practice.
