Course on non-conventional ships and fishing vessels for surveyors and maritime inspectors ends

The five days national training course for surveyors and inspectors of non-conventional ships and fishing vessels which started last week Monday has ended. The workshop which was put together by both the Ghana Maritime Academy (GMA) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) was much centered on the implementation of the new Inland Waterways Regulation Bill. This new bill has drawings and plans of new crafts and vessels that would have to be approved before construction could take place. Reading out the final resolutions of the workshop, experts in the marine field recommended the acknowledgement of useful tools for national regulations of improvement that, the content and relevance of the draft of the IMO model regulations to be used during this workshop for ship safety and certification and for technical requirements applicable to non-convention ships and fishing vessels as further reviewed and revised, recommend GMA to carefully review and evaluate these regulations with the view to developing the appropriate national law, promote with the framework of Abuja memorandum of understanding, the adoption of port State control (PSC) procedures for cargo ships and small passenger ships and fishing vessels not covered by provisions of the IMO safety related conventions. The meeting also tasked IMO to promote similar approaches and a concurrent use of the model regulations by the Maritime administrations of other countries in the region, develop a set of model regulations for fishing vessels of more than 24metres in length, publication of IMO model regulations in French language and development of training modules for short courses for surveyors in relevant areas such as small ships stability and determination of their maximum permissible among others. Speaking at the closing ceremony last week Friday in Accra, the Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Academy, expressed gratitude to the IMO for their endless support. Mr. Issaka Azuma tasked all participating countries to adhere to the new developments to help keep our marine and it works safe. Participants were presented with certificates and awards were presented to three consultants of the workshop.

By: Michael Amedor