Guyana has positioned itself to remain competitive and be recognised as an equal player in the regional shipping industry. It has been able to do so by the passage of the 1998 Shipping Act and the establishment of the Maritime Administration Department (MAD) provided for in the Act to implement its provisions.
The department was set up by ministerial order in 1999 but was only fully separated from the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) under whose purview it fell, in January 2003. Ivor English, the former T&HD general manager, is its director, and he is assisted by two deputy directors, also former T&HD employees, Taig Kallicharran, who heads the Port and Harbours Division and acts as Harbour Master, and Claudette Rogers, who heads the Maritime Safety Division.
In a recent interview with Current Affairs English explained increasing regional initiatives in ports and flag state implementation. Guyana has had to adopt a number of the main international maritime conventions and codes which in a way serves as a catalyst for the development of maritime administration.
For example, he explained that port state activities are now becoming regionalised and all the activities are being carried out on a reciprocal basis to ensure that we rid the oceans and in particular the Caribbean Sea of sub-standard ships.
ISP Codes
As an illustration of this English pointed out that by July 1, 2004 the International Ships and Port Facilities codes become mandatory under which each port facility must have a security assessment done and prepare a security plan based on the assessment. He said that is also required for each ship of 500 tonnes or above or any ship that wishes to have interface with an international vessel.
He explained that the MAD is the designated authority for ensuring compliance with this requirement and that so far a number of the facilities have already done their assessments and are in process of developing their security plans. However, he noted that the response from the ships has been disappointing but it is hoped that this would improve because it is in their interest to ensure that they have such a plan since without it they would be unable to call at international ports or interface with international ships after June 30.
Since its establishment, English said that his department has also drawn up and submitted to the International Maritime Organisation a national action plan for maritime transport which details how the industry in Guyana would develop over time in conformity with the pre-determined conditions and standards of the international and regional communities.
Regional role
English said too that MAD also has a critical role in the regional community as at the moment it chairs for the next three years the Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control having been the vice-chair for the past three years.
He explained that Guyana joined the CMOU in October 1998 as a full member and had been a signatory to its formation in February 1996.
Commenting on the activities of his department, English said that a significant number of his administrative and technical staff are qualified with three of them having graduate degrees in maritime related disciplines and the others with varying degrees, diplomas in maritime related areas, management, and accounting.
English said that his organisation has taken over the functions of the Harbours division of the T&HD and the staff of that division. He explained that once the department is reorganized the positions of deputy directors which Kallicharran and Rogers now hold will be upgraded to director. Kallicharran has a graduate degree in port management and Rogers a graduate degree in maritime safety administration.
He said that the staff has been transferred to the MAD with conditions no less favourable than those they enjoyed with the T&HD but it is hoped that these would be improved in the near future.
Ports and Harbours Division
The Ports and Harbours division, he explained, is responsible for the traditional functions such as pilotage, hydrographic surveys, issuing of harbour licences, dredging, regulation of jetties and facilities and the certification of sea-men.
He explained that the division has to ensure that all the ship channels are surveyed before, during and after dredging. Also, he says that divisions carry out surveys for persons who want to establish a new wharf. "We have to give permission for the establishment of a new wharf or jetty and survey the area." He said that this has always been a requirement (under the T&HD) but people have the option of using a private surveyor "but we have to ensure if you are going to do dredging that we have an accurate assessment as to what is the present draught and to what extent the work is required to be done. We are not going to take it from the proprietor/builder."
Marine Safety Division
The responsibility of the Marine Safety division includes the registration and licensing of ships, the issue of sea-men's discharge books, accident investigation, river navigation, small river craft (speedboats) operations, quality control in relation to maritime training, enforcement of conventions, compilation of statistics and sea-men's welfare.
In relation to the investigation of accidents, English said that these are carried out jointly with the Harbour Master's Office and any legal person appointed by the Minister.
He explained too that Port and Flag State Implemen-tation lie at the heart of the functions of Rogers' division as vessels are expected to be inspected and given a seaworthiness certificate.
"Therefore," he explained, "it is envisaged that they would be required to undergo quality repair and maintenance in an approved dockyard or at facilities that allow for credible repairs or the correction of physical defects."
He explained too that the preferred facility is a dockyard and the department has shortlisted a number of them among which are the Guyana National Industrial Corporation Dockyard and the T&HD Dockyard at Mazaruni and Vieira's Dockyard.
English said too that his department utilises the services of surveyors and ship inspectors to inspect the dockyards and when required technical personnel from the T&HD.
Funding
In terms of its financing, English explained that the department gets its revenue from harbour dues, registration and licensing fees, pilotage, harbour, light and tonnage dues. He explained too that the modalities for the receipt of a subvention from the government "are still being worked out but we get technical assistance in terms of ship repairs and so forth from the T&HD" for which the department has to pay.
In terms of becoming self-financing, English said that it is hoped that the department would become an authority in the future but expects that "as the industry expands and shipping improves and our shipping registry expands there is the possibility that we would be able to gain more resources" and so lessen the dependence on government's financial support.
About MAD's role in support of international shipping trade, English explained, "we are important in international shipping because of the pilotage.
We have to pilot all the ships that come in and out of Port Georgetown and the other pilotage districts of Essequibo and Berbice and through the lighthouse we have communications with ships coming in at the pilot stations." Among the information received from the ships is their expected time of arrival and he describes MAD as being "quintessential to the process because we are like the regulators of the whole affair."
Challenges
Commenting on the challenges MAD has encountered in the discharge of its functions, English said, "First of all people resist change whenever new regulations or laws are to be implemented. They are wary because such phenomena did not hitherto exist."
He said that there was serious objection from people in the Pomeroon to the institution of the maritime regulations regarding safety. "That was geared not so much on garnering economies as the greatest emphasis in the operation was the safety of the operators."
Another challenge, he said, was the acquisition of certain "essential elements which are capital intensive and necessary for effective port safety and the regulation of maritime traffic."
He explained that the Coast Station for regulating maritime communication used to be operated by GT&T at the Earth Station (on Carifesta Avenue) "but nothing has happened there for the longest while."
Another challenge English said was getting persons who are not licensed or registered to come into the formal arrangement.
He explained, "There might be vessels that might not yet have been registered or licensed, particularly in the outlying areas. That is related in a way to the resistance to change and new rules and regulations I referred to earlier as these carry a cost."
He explained that operators have to pay to be licensed and that the fees vary according to the size and tonnage of the vessel.
He explained that all categories of vessels including fishing boats have to be licensed and the department is putting in place a mechanism in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture that would provide for all fishing boats licensed by the Ministry to be inspected and registered.
However, he said that some of the vessels would be exempted from paying the licensing fee on the basis of their size and the nature of the fishing gear.