Dakuku Peterside, NIMASA DG
After
several warnings the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency NIMASA has commenced clampdown on vessels that do not comply
with the provisions of the Cabotage Compliance Strategy introduced
last year to ease the implementation of the Cabotage Act 2003 in
Nigeria.
The
Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has said the Agency
will no longer encourage the application of any form of waivers under
the Cabotage Act, particularly from the oil firms operations as such
does not help the growth of the Nigerian maritime sector and economy
at large.
“Our
laws forbid foreign vessels operating in our territorial waters save
for compliance with the Cabotage Act. There shall be no sacred cow
when we commence clampdown on erring vessels. We want to increase the
number of Nigerians who participate in the marine aspect of your
business and we are working closely with the Nigerian Content
Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to have a joint
categorization of vessels operating under the Cabotage Act in order
to ensure the full implementation of the Act”,he
said
A
detention order for a Motor Tanker, MT NAVIGATOR CAPRICORN, which is
a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Carrier, has been approved for
contravening sections of the Cabotage Act.
The
vessel was first boarded in October 2018 and all infractions of
Cabotage non-compliance were noted and communicated accordingly to
the charterer/Owners representatives with a 90 days grace period to
comply. The 90 days expired on the 31st January 2019. It is
noteworthy that Owners made undertaking to remedy the notable
infractions when the vessel was issued a detention warning in October
2018.
While
NIMASA is currently engaging the owners and charterers of the vessel
on the need to comply with the laws of the land, MT NAVIGATOR
CAPRICORN has been moved to Lagos Anchorage to allow space for other
LPG vessels to discharge at the NOJ Jetty.
It
is noteworthy that the NIMASA DG had led members of his team to meet
with the Oil Producers Trade Sector (OPTS) in Lagos where he urged
industry players to draw up a five-year strategic plan for the
cessation of application for Cabotage waiver and also pursue the
utilization of Nigerian-owned vessels for marine contracts.
You
will also recall that in August 2018, NIMASA introduced a new
Compliance Strategy for Cabotage Implementation in Nigeria to ensure
full implementation of the Cabotage Act, 2003 to secure jobs for
qualified Nigerians in the maritime sector.
The
Agency via a Marine Notice suspended considerations for applications
of grant of waiver on manning for prescribed categories of officers
in vessels engaged in Cabotage trade. The Agency no longer consider
application for grant of waiver on manning requirements for vessels
engaged in coastal trade with regards to 2nd officer, 2ndengineer,
2nd mate down to able seamen, ratings and stewards.
Special
applications for Captains, Chief Engineers, Chief Officers, First
Mate in the absence of qualified Nigerians are considered on merit,
but on the condition that such organization make plan to train a
Nigerian and put in place a transition plan to ensure that the
Nigerian takes over the job within one year.
The
whole essence of this was to ensure that Nigerians are not deprived
of the jobs due them on showing requisite qualifications for the job.
No comments:
Post a Comment