Today (23 September 2010) marks the 33rd celebration of World Maritime Day, the annual occasion when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) leads the world in highlighting a key issue for the Organization and the shipping industry. This year, the theme for World Maritime Day is: “2010: Year of the Seafarer”. In his World Maritime Day message to the international maritime community, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos said that the intention of the theme had been to draw attention to the unique circumstances within which seafarers spend their working lives, while rendering their indispensable services, but also to make a palpable and beneficial difference. “In selecting the “Year of the Seafarer” theme, our intention was also to use it as an excellent opportunity to reassure those who labour at the “sharp end” of the industry – the seafarers themselves – that those of us who work in other areas of the maritime community, and yet whose actions have a direct bearing on seafarers’ everyday lives, understand the extreme pressures they face and approach our tasks with genuine interest and concern for them and their families,” Mr. Mitropoulos said.
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