International Chamber of Shipping develops and promotes shipping industry best practices and guidance through a wide range of publications and free resources that are used by ship operators globally.
You can download most publications from the list below for free and purchase the paid-for publications from our ICS bookshop.
Age discrimination is no joke and can affect individuals of all ages in any field of work, including the shipping industry. It can lead to decreased motivation and increased sickness and can compromise cohesive and effective teamwork. It can also negatively affect companies resulting in potential organisational, economic and legal consequences. These new guidelines will help ship operators understand the different types of age discrimination, whether direct or indirect, and show how this can be avoided with respect to recruitment, training, pay and promotion, as well as redundancy and retirement.
The International Safety Management (ISM) Code is a key mandatory requirement for merchant ships, critical to the improvement of maritime safety and environmental performance.
Joint guidelines from ICS and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) aim to support shipping companies by providing advice on how to develop a Polar Water Operational Manual (PWOM) that best suits their needs.
ICS is producing a series of ‘single-issue’ brochures under a common theme: ‘Global Shipping - Investing in Sustainable Development’. This first brochure of the series focuses on the ‘The Switch to Low Sulphur Fuel’, outlining the reasons for adoption and implementation of the IMO global sulphur cap regulation; the health and environmental benefits; and the need for collaborative initiatives between all actors in the maritime logistics chain, to effectively contribute towards the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This fifth edition was withdrawn in February 2021 and replaced by the sixth edition.
Ships present organised criminals with the opportunity to transport high volumes of drugs from producing to consuming countries. This book demonstrates how to protect the ship and the crew and reduce the risk of drug trafficking occurring on board.
To help shipping companies prepare for implementation of the UN IMO global sulphur cap for ships’ fuel oil, ICS with the support of the Asian Shipowners' Association (ASA) and the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA), has produced – free of charge – some comprehensive guidance on implementation planning, to help ensure compliance across the shipping industry with this regulatory game changer. The ICS guidance has been prepared for the vast majority of ships that will comply with the global sulphur cap immediately after 1 January 2020 using fuel oils with a sulphur content of 0.50% m/m or less.
This third edition was withdrawn in April 2023 and replaced by the fourth edition. This ICS publication is the comprehensive and definitive guide to MLC compliance for anyone involved with the employment of seafarers, including shipping companies, ship managers and crewing agents.