After taking office on 1 January 2012, the IMO Secretary-General Mr. Koji Sekimizu today announced a number of changes in the structure of the IMO Secretariat.

Mr. Sekimizu said: “The biggest challenge I see in the coming years, in terms of management of the Organization, is how to improve the ‘delivery mechanism’ in the Secretariat to address the demanding issues we face, such as anti-piracy measures, the introduction of the mandatory Member State Audit Scheme and our ever-increasing workload. To address this will require effective human resource deployment and redeployment, the creation of new ways of handling our work and improvements to our working methods. It will also require close co-operation between the Secretariat and Member Governments.”

In order to meet the future challenges, Mr. Sekimizu transferred Assistant Secretary-General, Mr. Andrew Winbow, from the Administrative Division to the Maritime Safety Division, as its Director. Mr. Sekimizu further transferred Mr. Jo Espinoza-Ferrey from the Marine Environment Division to head the Administrative Division as its Director, and consequentially promoted Mr. Stefan Micallef to the post of Director of the Marine Environment Division.

To ensure that the Organization makes further progress dealing with piracy, Mr. Sekimizu appointed Mr. Hartmut Hesse as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Maritime Security and Anti-Piracy Programmes. Mr. Hesse will be taking responsibility for the implementation of the Djibouti Code of Conduct and will also act as the IMO representative to conferences and meetings dealing with piracy issues.

In order to prepare for the successful introduction of the mandatory Member State Audit Scheme and to provide ample resources for these activities, Mr. Sekimizu has reorganized the Sub-Division for Implementation and Coordination of the Maritime Safety Division into a Department for Member State Audit and Implementation Support in the Maritime Safety Division. Mr Laurence Barchue was appointed as Head of the new Department.

Finally, the Secretary-General also decided to strengthen the functions dealing with internal audit and matters of ethics and appointed Mr. K-R. Min as the Senior Deputy Director in charge of the Internal Oversight and Ethics Office.

The changes announced also results in a changed composition of the Senior Management Committee which aims to provide the leadership necessary for a revitalized and forward-looking Organization, as indicated below:

Secretary-General

Assistant Secretary-General/Director, Maritime Safety Division, A. Winbow

Assistant Secretary-General/Director, Legal and External Relations Division, R. Balkin

Director, Conference Division, O. O’Neil

Director, Technical Cooperation Division, J. Zhu

Director, Administrative Division, J. Espinoza Ferrey

Director, Marine Environment Division, S. Micallef

Special Adviser on Environmental Protection Standards, D. Du

Head, Department of Member State Audit and Implementation Support, L. Barchue

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Maritime Security and Anti-Piracy Programmes, H. Hesse

Senior Deputy Director, Internal Oversight and Ethics Office, K-R. Min

Head, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, J. Thompson

Head, Policy and Planning Unit, J. Loldrup