The new theme for 2016’s World Maritime Day is “Indispensable shipping” to reflect the impossibility of sustaining world trade without it.

New IMO secretary general Kitack Lim reminded his audience that “no country, no society, can be self-sufficient – the need to export, to import, to trade, is universal. As a result, shipping – as the only truly cost-effective, energy-efficient and sustainable means of transporting goods and commodities in bulk – has become truly indispensable to the world.”

“Today, around 90% of world trade is carried by the international shipping industry,” said Lim. “Without shipping, importing and exporting goods on the scale necessary to sustain the modern world would simply not be possible.”

Lim further highlighted the widespread ignorance of seaborne trade and its importance in the global economy. “Almost everyone in the world today relies on shipping to some extent – but very few are aware of it. This year's World Maritime Day theme gives the entire shipping community an opportunity to promote shipping, loudly and proudly, to a global audience, and I hope that you will all seize that opportunity during the course of this year.”

World Maritime Day will be celebrated at IMO Headquarters on Thursday 29 September.