An important event in every maritime and commercial arbitrator's diary, the International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators (ICMA) is a forum for maritime arbitrators, lawyers and for the shipping industry from around the world in which to deliberate on and exchange views and news of professional interest.

ICMA is not a formal organisation nor a legal entitiy. It does not have an office. There are no members. It is just a series of conferences which are held every 2 or 3 years in the spirit of a joint effort to promote maritime arbitration all over the world.

ICMA has grown to host delegates from, on average, 26 countries presenting approximately 50 papers. The international maritime conferences are generally composed of arbitrators, lawyers, owners, charterers, other industry professionals and their guests. A black tie dinner dance is a tradition, as are one or two cocktail parties.

Aside from providing a forum for discussion and serious, scholarly papers, the Congress always includes a social program for accompanying persons and delegates.

Unlike other organizations, which may have an executive directorate, ICMA is an ad-hoc event which is arranged by the host organization. The ICMA Permanent Steering Committee, whose primary duty is to select the next venue for ICMA and to appoint the chairman of the ICMA Topics Committee, is traditionally composed of a delegate each from New York and London and a representative from the organizing committees of the previous and current ICMA locales.

Present members of the Steering Committee are

    - Manfred W. Arnold, New York (Chairman)
    - Bruce Harris, London
    - Dr. Friedrich Strube, Bremen
    - Daryl Raibl, Vancouver

The ICMA Topics Committee has the important task of proposing topics, collecting the delegates’ papers and organizing the working sessions of the Congress. All papers are normally published in the Proceedings of the Congress.