In response to the Erika incident of December 1999. the need to review the issues surrounding places of refuge was included in a list of measures drawn at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aimed at enhancing safety and minimizing the risk of oil pollution, drawn up in December 2000 Further urgency to the work came in the aftermath of the incident involving the fully laden tanker Castor which, in December 2000, developed a structural problem in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ship was towed around the Mediterranean for over a month before a place could be found where a successful lightering operation could be carried out.
In early 2001, the then IMO Secretary-General Mr. William O'Neil determined that the time had come for IMO to undertake, as a matter of priority, a global consideration of this problem and to adopt whatever measures might be required to ensure that ships in distress would be provided with appropriate assistance and facilities as dictated by the circumstances.
The November 2001 sinking of the Prestige further highlighted the issue.
See More...
When maritime nations gathered together in 1914 to develop the first international shipping safety convention, following the Titanic disaster two years earlier, the focus was not just on preventing shipping accidents but also improving the changes of survival if one should occur.
The basic concept of the GMDSS is that search and rescue authorities ashore, as well as shipping in the immediate vicinity of the ship in distress, will be rapidly alerted to a distress incident so they can assist in a co·ordinated search and rescue operation with the minimum of delay. The system also provides for urgency and safety communications and the dissemination of maritime safety information, including navigational and meteorological warnings. This means that every ship will be able, irrespective of the area in which it operates, to perform those communication functions considered essential for the safety of the ship itself and of other ships operating in the same area.
In response to the Erika incident of December 1999. the need to review the issues surrounding places of refuge was included in a list of measures drawn at the 
