The IMO has adopted a resolution to protect vital shipping lanes and navigational rights, emphasizing international cooperation and seafarer safety.
The UN's International Maritime Organization has adopted a Singapore-led resolution reaffirming the importance of protecting vital shipping lanes and upholding navigational rights for commercial vessels, reported Singapore's Channel News Asia.
The resolution was passed at the 137th session of the IMO Council and co-sponsored by 30 member states, including Indonesia and Malaysia. It stresses the need to uphold navigational rights and freedoms for ships transiting straits used for international navigation, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore stated that the resolution highlights the IMO's role in promoting a stable, predictable, and rules-based maritime order. It underscores the importance of international cooperation, dialogue, and collective responsibility in keeping vital sea lanes open and secure.
The resolution also emphasizes protecting the health, safety, and well-being of seafarers, who play a critical role in global supply chains. MPA noted that the move reflects Singapore's longstanding commitment to international law and maintaining an open maritime environment.
Singapore highlighted that as a trade-dependent economy, it supports a rules-based order to ensure uninterrupted global trade, resilient supply chains, and food and energy security.
The adoption comes as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has slowed following Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and US retaliatory strikes. The strait previously carried about one-fifth of global oil supplies before the US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered war in February.
