Description

As commercial shipping expanded after the Second World War andshipping lanes grew more crowded, the major shipping nations triedto introduce consistent rules on navigation so that ship operatorscould be certain about their duties in busy shipping lanes.

The Collision Regulations of 1960 were the first majorinternational rules of the post-war era, but the implementation oftraffic separation schemes in areas such as the Strait of Doversoon necessitated an update.

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea,better known as Colregs, were published by the IMO in 1972, andhave since been adopted by 155 states representing 98.7 per cent ofthe tonnage of the world's merchant fleets.

The rules are presented here in bite-sized chunks, withaudio.