Key features of the Convention
According to IMO, although the incidence of marine
casualties has decreased dramatically in recent
years, the number of abandoned wrecks, estimated
at almost 1,300 worldwide in 2007, has reportedly
increased and the problems associated with them
continue to be serious. Shipwrecks can be a hazard
to the navigation of other vessels and their crews.
Depending, among other aspects, on the nature of
the cargo, wrecks may also potentially cause damage
to the marine and coastal environments and costs are
involved in their marking and removal. The Convention
aims to provide a uniform set of rules for States to
remove, or have removed, promptly and effectively,
shipwrecks located beyond the territorial sea.19 The
Convention also provides for compulsory insurance
and a right of direct action against the insurer (see
section Compulsory insurance, below).
Although the Convention normally applies only to
wrecks located beyond the territorial sea, in the
“exclusive economic zone” of a State Party, it also
includes an optional clause enabling States Parties
to make certain provisions applicable to their territory,
including their territorial sea. This is important, given
that most of the dangerous wrecks lie within the
territorial sea, in shallow coastal waters under the
jurisdiction of coastal States.