The International Maritime Organization’s Council has endorsed Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez for a second four-year term, which would keep him at the head of the UN shipping agency until the end of 2031.
What was decided
- Who: Arsenio Dominguez of Panama, the IMO’s tenth secretary-general, in office since January 2024
- Decision: backed by the 40-member IMO Council at its 138th session in London
- Next step: formal approval by the IMO Assembly, which meets in late 2027
- New term, if approved: 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2031
A difficult first term
Much of Dominguez’s first term has been spent managing deep divisions among member states over the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, the plan for a global marine fuel standard and a price on shipping emissions. The framework was agreed in principle in April 2025, but in October last year governments voted to postpone its adoption by a year after strong opposition led by the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Talks to rescue the deal have continued through 2026. The next decisive round comes soon: the Marine Environment Protection Committee meets from 30 November to 3 December, followed by an extraordinary session on 4 December to look again at adopting the framework.
Security at sea is the other big pressure point. Attacks and disruption affecting merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Black Sea are on the agenda of this week’s Council meeting.
Background
Before becoming secretary-general, Dominguez worked inside the IMO as director of its Marine Environment Division, administrative director and chief of staff. He also represented Panama at the organisation and chaired the Marine Environment Protection Committee. He took over from South Korea’s Kitack Lim in January 2024.
Why it matters for Bangladesh
The IMO sets the global rules that Bangladeshi shipowners, ports, shipyards and seafarers work under. Its decisions on fuel standards and emissions pricing will affect freight costs for the country’s sea-borne trade and the future of its growing merchant fleet.
Based on reporting by Splash247, 5 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image: a tanker passing an offshore wind farm in the North Sea. ImagePerson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
