IMO Holds Lima Workshop on Ships’ Routeing to Cut Collision Risks
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has held a five-day regional workshop in Lima, the capital of Peru on South America’s Pacific coast, on ships’ routeing and ship reporting systems. The workshop ran from 26 to 30 October 2026 and was organised with Peru’s maritime authority, the General Directorate of Captaincies and Coast Guards (DICAPI), and Spain’s Jovellanos Centre for maritime safety training.
Officials from Latin American maritime administrations studied the IMO General Provisions on Ships’ Routeing and SOLAS Chapter V regulations 10 and 11, which cover routeing measures and mandatory ship reporting. They also learned how to draft proposals for the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR) and how such proposals are checked before the Maritime Safety Committee adopts them.
The sessions covered the main routeing tools used worldwide: traffic separation schemes, two-way routes, precautionary areas, areas to be avoided and deep-water routes. These measures organise traffic in busy or narrow waters, keep large ships away from shallow or sensitive areas, and lower the risk of collisions and groundings.
The aim is to help countries in the region set up well-designed, IMO-approved routeing systems along their coasts and ports, where traffic is growing.
For bridge teams, new or revised routeing measures off Latin America would mean updated charts, sailing directions and reporting rules. Navigating officers should keep an eye on IMO-adopted changes in the region and update their passage plans to match.
