Bangladesh has acceded to three International Maritime Organization (IMO) liability conventions, The Business Standard reported on 19 July 2026: the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (1969, as amended by the 1992 Protocol), the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage (2001), and the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (2007).
The instruments were deposited with IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez in London, with Shipping Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam and Department of Shipping Director General Commodore Md Shafiul Bari present.
Why it matters
The conventions create compensation mechanisms for pollution damage and wreck removal and require shipowners to carry insurance or other financial security. Commodore Bari said Bangladesh-flagged ships would be able to obtain convention certificates at home: “This will reduce costs, delays and foreign exchange expenditure.”
Captain Anam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers Association, welcomed the move but said the country should have ratified the conventions earlier.
Event date: July 2026
Sources: This report summarises the following original reporting. Facts and quotations are attributed to these sources.
- The Business Standard, Bangladesh joins three key IMO conventions to bolster maritime safety, pollution liability framework (19 July 2026)
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File photo: the International Maritime Organization. Photo: imo.un / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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