Shipping

Thousands of container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, ferries, cruise ships and fishing vessels cross the ocean every day. The world fleet currently comprises just under 100,000 ships of 100 gross tons or more, registered in over 150 nations, crewed by over a million seafarers and carrying cargo all over the world, together with about 300 cruise ships and around 4.6 million fishing vessels.

Maps of the current position of vessels may be found at the Marine Traffic: real time global shipping tracker
and on the website of Global Fishing Watch

Shipping is essential to the world economy, ensuring the transportation of raw materials and manufactured goods around the globe. Technological advances have allowed the ship building industry to boom, ships to carry greater loads and travel faster, cutting journey times and therefore costs. The annual economic value of the shipping industry is about EUR 36 billion, with 13.5 million people employed in the industry. This comes at a cost to the marine environment as the shipping industry is responsible for about 20% of marine pollution, including waste, oil, ballast water and noise.

Find out more a out ship-based pollution here.

As a specialized agency of the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization is the authority responsible for establishing global standards for safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping. Its main role is to create and maintain a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair, effective and universally adopted and implemented.

Since its first meetings in 1948, the IMO has developed a collection of key agreements and conventions addressing safety, security, pollution, the ship/port interface, liability and compensation and salvage. Predominant among these legal texts are the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships of 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto and by the Protocol of 1997 (known as MARPOL) and the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1974 (known as SOLAS). SOLAS requires an automatic identification system (AIS) to be fitted aboard international voyaging ships with 300 or more gross tonnage and all passenger ships regardless of size. This system, used by vessel traffic services (VTS), provides information such as the identification, position, course, and speed of the vessel. The vehicle monitoring system (VMS) used specifically for fishing vessels is designed to assist fisheries surveillance and deter illegal fishing.

Find out more about ocean management and the tracking of ocean activities here.

The problem of unregulated dumping of toxic and industrial waste at sea which was prevalent in the 1960s and 70s was addressed by the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (known as the London Convention). The Convention was adopted in 1972 and later updated by the 1996 London Protocol. Under the Protocol, all dumping is prohibited, except for specific wastes (listed as dredged material, sewage sludge, fish wastes, vessels and platforms, inert, inorganic geological material such as mining wastes, organic material of natural origin, bulky items primarily comprising iron, steel and concrete, and carbon dioxide streams from carbon dioxide capture processes for sequestration). Since its entry into force in 2006, dumping has been significantly reduced but not yet eliminated.

In accordance with IMO regulations, every commercial or merchant vessel that operates internationally or crosses international borders must be registered with and carry the flag of its flag State. The flag State is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ship's equipment and crew, and issue safety and pollution prevention documents. Ships come under the jurisdiction of their flag State when underway or the port State while docked in a port. The organization which registers the ship is known as its registry, which may be governmental or private. Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the largest flag States, with Panama’s registry including over 9 thousand vessels flying its flag.

The top 10 flag states by registered tonnage are: Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Bahamas,
Singapore, Greece, Malta, China and Cyprus.

While IMO conventions and agreements regulate the ship itself, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides a legal regime for its actions: ships enjoy the right of innocent passage through territorial seas, the right of transit passage in straits used for international navigation and the freedom of navigation in States’ exclusive economic zones and on the High Seas. Coastal States may arrest or detain vessels if they contravene regulations of UNCLOS, for example through pollution or illegal fishing.

Find out more about  ocean governance here.

Communications

Since Queen Victoria’s submarine cable telegram to US President Buchanan in 1858, international submarine communications have come a long way. What then took 16 hours to arrive is now accomplished in seconds. The advent of fibre optics in the 1990s made sea cabling possible so that now 1 .2 million km of cables carry almost all data transfers across the ocean in cables about as wide as a garden hose, made up of filaments carrying light signals which have a diameter roughly the size of a human hair. The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), established to improve the security of undersea cables by providing a forum in which relevant technical, legal and environmental information can be exchanged, has a membership of governmental administrations and commercial companies that own or operate submarine telecommunications or power cables, as well as companies such as cable system owners and cable ship operators. UNCLOS provides for the right to lay cables and pipelines across a nation's seabed

A map of the current system of submarine cables can be seen here

Coastal tourism

In geographical terms, coastal areas are defined as those bordering the sea or having at least half of their territory within 10 kilometres of the coast. About 80% of tourism is concentrated in these coastal areas. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), coastal tourism is based on a unique combination of land and sea where amenities such as water, beaches, scenic beauty, rich terrestrial and marine biodiversity, diversified cultural and historic heritage, healthy food, and good infrastructure are combined and involves the development of tourism capacities (hotels, resorts, second homes, restaurants, etc.) and support infrastructure (ports, marinas, fishing and diving shops, and other facilities). In some countries the tourism industry generates as much as one-third of the economy and employs as much as one-third of the national workforce. Coastal and maritime tourism has been highlighted as one of the sectors with a high potential for growth and jobs, growing at an estimated €114 billion a year. The World Tourism Organization is the UN Specialized Agency working with States to develop a sustainable tourism industry.