THE CARIBBEAN MOU WELCOMES ITS 19th AND 20th MEMBERS
Press Release
THE CARIBBEAN MOU WELCOMES ITS 19th AND 20th MEMBERS
The Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (CMOU) held its 24th Committee meeting in Georgetown, Guyana from the 19th – 21st of June 2019, hosted by the Maritime Administration of Guyana (MARAD). During this meeting, the Committee unanimously approved the application of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Sint Marten to be full Members of the CMOU as well as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) as an Associate Member. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was previously the CMOU’s first Associate Member and had now fulfilled the requirements for full Membership.
The meeting was attended by sixteen of the eighteen member States and the observer State of the BVI. In addition, the Regional Maritime Advisor of the IMO and a representative from the United States Coast Guard were in attendance.
Mr. Michel Amafo, the new Chairman of the CMOU, stated that “The CMOU has always placed importance on the continued expansion of the MOU through the addition of new members and this can only assist with the development and growth of the MOU as well as ensuring that there is a harmonized system of port State control being executed throughout the region. We look forward to welcoming more territories in the not too distant future.”
In addition to the increase in Membership, the CPSCC 24 approved the Guidelines to the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007 (NAIROBI WRC 2007), the revised MOU Ver. 9, the Guidelines of the MARPOL Annex V Amendments, the Guidelines on the SCV Code, updates to the CMOU Technical Manual, the Strategic Plan of the MOU and the revised Finance and Administrative Manual Rev. 3.
The Technical Standing Working Group (TSWG) of the CMOU has been tasked to continue to review the CCSS Code to seek to rectify the issue of non-CMOU Member States issuing Caribbean Cargo Chip Safety Certificates under the Caribbean Cargo Ship Safety (CCSS) Code.
Members were advised of the successful staging of the 11th PSC Seminar and OJT in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. The seminar focused on basic training and had attendance from 14 Member States and 2 Observer States. Participants were provided with basic training on the major conventions; the Nairobi Convention; PSCO Inspection Procedures; the Caribbean small vessel codes and the CMIS Database. PSCOs participated in practical inspections on two passenger vessels and a bulk carrier. Expressions of appreciation were given to the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands for hosting the event and to Tsunami Maritime and the M/V Freewinds for providing lecturers for the seminar.
The Committee adopted the 2018 Annual Report including the overview of the activities of the CMOU for the period and the statistics including inspections totaling 635, deficiencies reported totaling 1146 and 11 detentions. With respect to categories of deficiencies, Fire Safety Measures had the highest percent of total deficiencies at 17.12% followed by Ship’s Certificates and Documents at 13.66%. The complete report is available on the CMOU’s website.
The CPSCC 25 meeting will be held in in June of 2020 in Havana, Cuba.
Contact: Mrs. Jodi Barrow
Secretary General
Caribbean MOU
12 Ocean Boulevard
2nd Floor, the Office Centre Building
Kingston
Tel: 876-967-1077
For more information on the Caribbean MoU on Port State Control please consult our Website on the following address: www.caribbeanmou.org
