IMO to hold meeting in Jakarta

IMO to hold meeting in Jakarta

SINGAPORE: Warning of widespread and far-reaching detrimental effects from any closure of the straits of Malacca and Singapore, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) plans a conference in Jakarta next year focusing on threats to the waterways.

The event, scheduled for July 2005, is aimed at demonstrating the "seriousness the IMO attributes to the protection of shipping lanes of strategic significance and importance," the United Nations body said in a statement.

The conference will bring together the three littoral states - Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore - as well as user states and other stakeholders under the IMO umbrella to identify key issues relating to safety, security and environment.

They will be charged with developing and putting into place "appropriate actions plans," said the statement published in The Business Times.

With 50,000 ships carrying 25 percent of the world's oil each year, the IMO stressed the importance of preserving the channel's integrity.

Any serious disruption to the flow of maritime traffic would mean a detour for ships of at least 965 kilometers and, "without doubt, higher freight rates and costlier goods and commodities as a result". -- DPA