Maritime officers from seven states around the Pacific have gathered in Wellington, New Zealand, this week, studying how to prepare their countries for audit by IMO. The training course, being delivered by the IMO, is an opportunity to improve maritime safety standards across the Pacific, according to Maritime NZ‘s Chief Executive, Keith Manch.
Representatives from all seven PMSP countries will participate. The PMSP countries are Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu. They, all, will join their New Zealand counterparts at the training course, being delivered by the IMO.
Countries signed up to IMO conventions are required to submit to an IMO audit, according to the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS), once every seven years. The audit is comprehensive and covers numerous IMO conventions including those relating to oil pollution, safety of life at sea and seafarer training.
For some Pacific nations, with limited capacity in terms of personnel or local expertise, it is particularly difficult.
Mr Manch said preparing for an IMSAS audit requires significant time and investment for any country.
During this course, two IMO auditors will take the participants through their processes and help them understand the requirements of their country‘s maritime departments when it is time to undergo the IMSAS audit.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Several Maritime NZ technical officers will be participating in the course, as the organisation prepares for New Zealand‘s audit, in late 2020.
Pacific Maritime Safety Programme (PMSP) is funding the course. PMSP is a New Zealand Aid funded programme administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and it is delivered by Maritime NZ.
One of the programme‘s main goals is to help Pacific countries develop their maritime regulations and capacity to implement them.
