International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations dealing with maritime affairs , the main concern of which was to evolve international maritime structure to improve safety at sea. Because of the international nature of the shipping industry, it had long been recognised that action to improve safety in maritime operations would be more effective if carried out at an  international level rather than by individual countries acting unilaterally and without coordination with others. Although a number of important international agreements had already been … [Read more...]