60 Years of Smarter Shipping: the FAL Convention Marks Major Milestone

The milestone is commemorated at the jubilee session of the IMO Facilitation Committee – the first meeting after the official anniversary date (the previous session was held on March 10–14, 2025).

The Convention was introduced in response to the pressing challenges of the 1960s, when maritime transport was already facing a significant administrative burden: each country required its own forms of documentation, while numerous inspections by customs, immigration authorities and sanitary control caused lengthy ship delays and resulted in major losses for ship- and cargo owners.

As stated in its preamble, the Convention aims to “facilitate maritime traffic by simplifying and reducing to a minimum the formalities, documentary requirements and procedures on the arrival, stay and departure of ships engaged in international voyages”. For all six decades of its existence, the Convention has fully lived up to this objective.

The significance and continued relevance of the FAL Convention are underscored by the number of its Parties, currently standing at 131 Member States. It addresses modern challenges by facilitating the digital transformation of maritime logistics, reducing environmental impact through shorter ship idle times and enhancing navigational safety through data standardization and operational transparency.

RS takes an active part in the work of the IMO Facilitation Committee, which oversees the FAL Convention. Our main areas of focus include furthering the Convention’s development, as well as work on “Single Window” systems, a comprehensive maritime digitalization strategy, measures to improve cybersecurity on vessels and electronic ship‑port data exchange systems.

More facts about the history of the Convention, along with interview excerpts from representatives of Member States who shaped this history, are available in a special video feature.

Additional information:

Founded in 1913, Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) is a world-renowned classification society that operates within all spheres of the maritime industry with the goal of improving the operational and environmental safety of marine transportation. RS reviews technical documentation, surveys ships and offshore facilities under construction and in service, certifies vessels and companies for compliance with international conventions, recognizes and certifies industrial products and manufacturers, certifies quality management systems for compliance with international and national standards.

Today, RS is actively expanding its scope of services in the field of engineering and consulting, the development of technical documentation for vessels in service, marine warranty surveys, management system certification and recognition of manufacturers. In addition, RS surveys all container types, including tank containers and offshore containers, confirms compliance of packaging for dangerous goods, as well as renders services on the declaration and certification of dangerous goods and bulk cargoes.