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THE GLEANER, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
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The Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ)
which has a regulatory and developmental
mandate was established by the Shipping
Act 1998.Its primary objectives are to devel-
op shipping and to regulate matters pertain-
ing to merchant ships and seafarers.
The functions of the MAJ include:
• Register ships
• Regulate the certification of seafarers
• Regulate the Safety of shipping in terms of the
construction of ships and navigation
• Inspect Jamaican ships operating locally and
internationally, as well as foreign ships in
Jamaican waters, to ensure compliance with
national and international standards of mar-
itime safety, security and marine pollution pre-
vention
• Establish maritime training and safety stan-
dards
• Conduct investigations into maritime casualties
• Administer policy for the development of ship-
ping in general.
In the context of its developmental mandate the
MAJ has been pursuing the establishment of
Jamaica as a maritime/shipping centre through
development of allied maritime activities as a
means of generating employment and economic
activity. This has been subsumed in the wider
national logistics hub initiative.
A seminal study on development of Jamaica as
a shipping hub was completed in 2010 and rec-
ommended pursuit of crewing, dry-docking and
bunkering activities as a first step or ‘level one’
in the thrust to develop the Country’s maritime
cluster. Since that time, sector specific studies
have been completed on bunkering (2012) and
dry-docking (2015) and the recommendations
being implemented.
Registration of ships is also carried out by the
MAJ as a part of its developmental activities and
as a means of income generation. The Jamaica
Ship Registry (JSR) was established in 2000 to
attract international ship owners to register their
vessels under the Jamaican flag.
ACHIEVEMENTS
During 2016 the MAJ:
•
Promulgated regulations for the implementa-
tion of the Manila Amendments, which gov-
erns the training and certification of seafarers
at the Caribbean Maritime Institute. This was
submitted to the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) as a part of Jamaica’s
submission to be evaluated by IMO’s Panel of
Competent Persons to determine if Jamaica
has given full effect to the Convention in order
to maintain the Country’s position on the IMO
‘White List’.
• Significant penetration of the mega yacht regis-
tration market, which has resulted in a 43%
growth in yachts registered over the previous
year. The registrations are primarily from
overseas owners.
• Inspection of 1,005 Jamaica small vessels
including vessels operating in the tourism
water-sport sector.
• Port State Control inspections were carried
out on 96 foreign flagged vessels visiting
Jamaican ports to ensure their compliance
with national and international standards of
maritime safety, security and pollution preven-
tion. As a consequence, 5 ships were
detained for non-compliance.
• Conducted 527 marine officers’ written exami-
nations for international certificates of compe-
tency and 64 oral examinations predominantly
for CMI graduates.
Conducted a Mass Rescue Operations (MRO)
communication exercise in conjunction with
the ODPEM at all cruise ship ports and the
two international airports in the first week of
April 2016, with assistance from the US Coast
Guard. The communication exercise was
designed to test Jamaica’s MRO Contingency
Plan for its readiness to respond to a marine
incident involving a cruise ship or aircraft with-
in our maritime space and flight information
region (FIR). All agencies with relevant
responsibilities for aviation and maritime trans-
portation were engaged and the MRO
Contingency Plan was updated.
•The MAJ has facilitated the establishment of
dry docking services for ships in Jamaica.
International investors and a local investor
have initiated concrete plans for the establish-
ment of a dry dock in Kingston Harbour to be
ready in about 18 months. The HPM was
present on board the HANSA EXPLORER
when the formal announcement was made in
November 2016.
The MAJ provided guidance for the local ship-
ping industry to implement the International
Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Verified Gross
Mass (VGM) measures requirement which
came into effect in July 2016. The requirement
was for shippers of export cargo in containers
to have the weight of their loaded containers
verified before they would be received on
board ships at out ports. This came about as a
result of an amendment to the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1978
(SOLAS CONVENTION) to which Jamaica is
a signatory, and enshrined in our Shipping Act
which is implemented by the MAJ.
• Conducted a certified training course for 33
members of the Marine Police in seamanship,
lifesaving, small vessel engine maintenance
and navigation at the level of boat coxswain.
• Preliminary meetings held with potential
investor as well as JAMPRO to scope
areas for discussions regarding the hosting of
an international yachting regatta in
2018.
MAJOR PROJECTS AND
PROGRAMMES
Establishing Jamaica as
a Logistics Hub
As part of its developmental mandate, the
Maritime Authority has been actively involved in
efforts to establish Jamaica as a global Logistics
Hub, both at the level of the national task force
and through its own activities to develop
Jamaica as a Shipping Centre. The global
Logistics Hub initiative embraces and comple-
ments the ongoing project of the MAJ to develop
Jamaica as a Shipping Centre.
The Government in its Vision 2030 National
Development Plan has identified the establish-
ment of Jamaica as a Shipping Centre, provid-
ing a range of targeted ancillary shipping servic-
es, as a major strategy to generate income and
employment for the economy. The expanded
Panama Canal will positively impact the
Country’s ability to achieve this ambition, as it is
expected to result in significant increase in ship-
ping traffic with larger volumes of cargo, and
therefore the demand for ancillary/shipping relat-
ed services.
The Study on the Development of a Framework
to Position Jamaica as a Shipping Hub, conduct-
ed in 2010 recommended the pursuit of a
phased strategy to develop Jamaica as a ship-
ping centre. It begins with the development of
“The Stage 1 Maritime Cluster,” which would be
the nucleus for a maritime hub. Augmenting our
existing infrastructure of ports, maritime training
and ship registry, this initial Stage would
embrace three (3) elements: dry docking,
bunkering and crewing.
During the past year the MAJ
continued efforts to support the
realisation of:
Dry docking/ship repair:
The establishment of Drydocking/ship repair
facilities has also been identified as a major pil-
lar in the Government’s shipping and logistics
thrust. Jamaica’s potential for providing ship
repair services stems from the concentrated
ocean going traffic traversing the Caribbean and
in particular those transiting the Panama Canal.
Ship repair work is by nature labour intensive,
requiring a fair measure of low cost skilled and
flexible labour resource. It is estimated that for
every dollar of ship repair revenue, 30% goes
towards direct labour, in addition to indirect
labour (another 30%) for repair, refurbishment
and renovation of parts etc, which is normally
carried out in ancillary units. It therefore pro-
vides an immediate advantage to developing
economies such as Jamaica that have an abun-
dant supply of low cost labour.
With the completion of the Drydocking Study
and the identification of potential investors, a for-
mal office to support the establishment and
operation of the dry dock facilities was opened
in September 2016.
Bunkering
Following on the recommendation from the
Shipping Centre Study that bunkering represent-
ed a ‘low hanging’ fruit for Jamaica and its
potential to generate income to the Country, a
specific sector study was conducted in 2012
with the assistance of the Commonwealth
Secretariat, entitled “Study to Position Jamaica
as a Bunkering Location in the Caribbean”.
Among other things, the Report indicated that if
Jamaica could increase the share of the vessels
passing through the Panama Canal, which
bunker in Jamaica, from the 2012 level of 5% to
10% it would benefit from induced economic
impact of US$3.1 billion and generate about 900
job opportunities.
Implement a New Model for
the Growth Jamaica Ship
Registry (JSR)
The Jamaica Ship Registry (JSR) was launched
in 2000 with a two-fold objective: to be a cata-
lyst to establish Jamaica as a maritime centre
and to provide a source of income for the
Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ).
The potential to be a catalyst to attract other
maritime services thereby providing a ‘one stop
shop’ was predicated on the knowledge of the
tendency of ship-owners to do as much of their
business in one location as possible, given the
availability of adequate services.
The success of the JSR in meeting these objec-
tives has been limited due to challenges. The
MAJ has therefore decided to pursue a new
model for the JSR aimed at ameliorating the
effects of these challenges through partnership
with a private investment partner (PPP) who will
be able to provide the necessary resources and
expertise to position the JSR to compete in the
marketplace.
On March 16, 2015, Cabinet gave approval for
the MAJ to identify, pursue and engage suitable
private investment partners for the management,
operation and promotion of the JSR and related
services, and an Enterprise Team (ET) estab-
lished to oversee the process.
In collaboration with DBJ, the appropriate
Public-Private-Partnership framework for opera-
tion of the Registry was developed.
Expressions of Interests have been received
from experts to prepare the
Business/Transaction Case and the process is
advanced to contract a suitable Consultant.
Promotion of Jamaica as a
Yachting Destination
With the introduction of the cruising permit
regime, the MAJ will continue activities to lever-
age the success of the yacht registry to attract
yachts to visit Jamaica and to utilize the Port
Antonio Marina and other marina facilities of
around the Country.
With Jamaica’s candidature for a member-
ship to the IMO Council well underway and
lobbying in high gears, Rear Admiral Peter
Brady has been selected as Jamaica’s
Envoy to spearhead the campaign. With so
much at stake the government is spearing
no effort to take back its rightful place on the
IMO Council as new horizons beckon.
Maritime Authority
of Jamaica
Creating New Horizons in the Maritime