RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in
relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety
and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,
RECALLING ALSO regulation 6 of
chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as amended, on the Ice Patrol Service, including
the Appendix to chapter V on Rules for the management, operation and
financing of the North Atlantic Ice Patrol,
RECALLING FURTHER resolution A.893(21) on Guidelines
for voyage planning,
NOTING that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-third
session, agreed to enhance the safety of passenger ships from a holistic
perspective, including consideration of concerns related to operations
in remote areas,
NOTING ALSO that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-sixth
session, and the Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its forty-eighth
session, approved the “Guidelines for ships operating in Arctic
ice-covered waters”, which were subsequently issued as MSC/Circ.1056 − MEPC/Circ.399,
RECOGNIZING the need to develop guidelines to supplement
resolution A.893(21), particularly for passenger ships operating in
remote areas, in order to prevent incidents of groundings and collisions,
and thereby enhance safety of life at sea,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the Maritime
Safety Committee at its eighty-first session:
1. ADOPTS the “Guidelines on voyage planning
for passenger ships operating in remote areas”, set out in the
annex to the present resolution;
2. INVITES Governments to bring the annexed guidelines
to the attention of masters of ships entitled to fly the flag of their
States, shipowners, ship operators and managers, shipping companies,
maritime pilots, training institutions, tour operators, ice-patrol
and ice-breaking services and all other parties concerned, for information
and action as appropriate;
3. REQUESTS the Maritime Safety Committee to keep
the above-mentioned guidelines under review and to amend them as appropriate.