About Us

The Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Caribbean Region was signed in Christ Church, Barbados on February 9, 1996 by nine States namely: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. This was in reality a successful culmination of years of discussion, research, and assistance from the International Maritime Organization with the lead person being Captain Barrie Rial (RMA).

The first Chairman of the CMOU Port State Control Committee was Lt. Cdr. Curtis Roach of Trinidad and Tobago, the Vice Chairman was Captain Hopeton Delisser of Jamaica and the first Secretary was Ms. Valerie Brown Director of Maritime Affairs of Barbados. Initially, the Secretariat was located in Barbados at the office of the Maritime Administration. The Secretariat was subsequently relocated to Jamaica in 2002 at the Maritime Authority of Jamaica. The CMOU is evolving, from the onset there was an offer from the Netherlands Antilles to host the Caribbean Maritime Information Centre (CMIC) however, there were some administrative limitations with regard to the receipt and input of data. In 2003 at the Port State Control Committee Meeting, Suriname was selected as the host state for the CMIC. The system was originally contracted from Transport Canada but is now hosted through the Mediterranean MOU.

The Membership has since increased to twenty States, namely Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao (formerly the Netherlands Antilles), France, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, The Netherlands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition,  Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands have joined as Associate Member States. Other Observer States have indicated their willingness to become Members and it is hoped that the membership of the CMOU will continue to grow over the next few years.