SAMSA, SA Govt take advantage of IMO annual General Council event to cement ties with Colombia.

BUILDING BRIDGES: South Africa’s Minister of Transport, Mr Fikile Mbalula (second from Left) on stage with several official representatives from about 127 Member States that gathered in the of Catargena de Indias in Colombo from the weekend through to Tuesday this week for the 2019 International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Parallel Event.

Pretoria: 18 September 2019

Discussions between South Africa and Colombia to strengthen relationships between the southern hemisphere countries but especially to strengthen co-operation and collaboration on safety and security of their seafarers will continue from this week to next week, the two governments announced in Colombia on Tuesday evening (South African time).

Confirmation of the engagement between the countries on the sidelines of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) annual General Council Parallel Event held in Cartagena de Indias since Sunday, involving more than 120 IMO member States, came in the form of a joint communique crafted by the two countries’s ministers of Transport, Mr Fikile Mbalula for South Africa, and Ms Ángela María Orozco for Colombia.

In the statement, the two ministers indicated that central to their continued discussions this week, through to next week in Montreal, Canada, was the formalization through formal ratification of two cooperation instruments; a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) and an Agreement for Mutual Recognition of Seafarers Certificates between South Africa and Colombia.

Montreal, Canada is the host of this year’s 40th Triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization from 24 September to the 4th October 2019.

In the joint communique’, Mr Mbalula and Ms Orozco confirmed that:

“The Ministers of Transport of Colombia and South Africa, met on September 17, 2019 on the sidelines of the Parallel Event to World Maritime Day, under the theme “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

“As part of the United Nations family, the Ministers welcomed all efforts made by the International Maritime Organization to strengthen coordination, build consensus, enhance cooperation and promote world peace, stability and development.

“The Ministers underlined the need to further strengthen South-South cooperation and advance our partnership to ensure the synergies to preserve the safety of life at sea and the marine environment protection through international mechanisms and instruments.

MAKING FRIENDS: Members of a South African delegation to the IMO’s General Assembly Parallel Event in Colombia included South Africa’s Port Regular Mr Mahesk Fakir (Left) and Ms Selma Clausen-Schwartz of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Third from Right).

“The Ministers reiterated their commitment to work together to further the bilateral relation and cooperation on important issues discussed at the Parallel Event to a new level. To this end, the Ministers agreed to stand ready to expand mutual consultations for the conclusion of the current negotiations of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). The Ministers also agreed that a BASA will enhance trade and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

“The Ministers also welcomed the interest expressed by both countries to negotiate an “Agreement for Mutual Recognition of Seafarers Certificates for Negotiation between South Africa and Colombia”.

“The Ministers agreed to continue these consultations at the upcoming 40th Triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization that will take place in Montreal, Canada from the 24th September to the 4th October 2019.

“The Minister of Transport of the Republic of South Africa thanked the Republic of Colombia for hosting and making excellent arrangements for the meeting.

“The Minister of Transport of the Republic of Colombia wished all the best to the Republic of South Africa for being the next host country of the World Maritime Day Parallel Event in 2020.” Durban, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa side of the Indian Ocean, has been confirmed as the venue for the IMO inaugural event in South Africa in a year’s time.

Meanwhile, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) whose officials attended the IMO Parallel Event, also confirmed entering into an agreement with its Colombian counterpart, the Directorate of the Maritime (DIMAR), over a declaration of intent “to establish a framework for institutional cooperation on matters of mutual interest between the two Maritime Authorities.”

According to SAMSA, representing Colombia’s DIMAR at the talks were Mr Juan Manuel Soltau Ospina and for SAMSA, the agency’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi.

The draft of the declaration of intent between SAMSA and DIMAR indicates that the two organisations “within the scope of competence of the respective Parties, and in recognition of international instruments in which South Africa and Colombia are parties to and the international organizations of which they are members, the main areas and forms of cooperation that the framework would include are the following:

Safety of life and property at sea
Safety of Navigation
Capacity building
Maritime transport
Environmental Protection and Prevention
Technical cooperation
Compliance and implementation of international instruments

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With only months to go, South Africa steps up its prep for its host debut of the IMO’s General Council conference 2020.

12 September 2019

Transport Minister, Mr Fikile Mbalula is among a host of senior government, parastatals and maritime sector officials due to descend in Colombia this weekend for this year’s International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) General Council parallel event – the biggest gathering of the United Nations’ agency’s Member States on an annual basis.

The World Maritime Day Parallel Event 2019 will be held in Cartagena, Colombia, from Sunday to Wednesday (15-17 September 2019).

According to the IMO, the World Maritime Day Parallel Event is hosted in a different country each year, providing “a platform that brings together important actors and stakeholders in the maritime community to discuss matters of mutual concern.”

The IMO says the event’s theme for this year is “Empowering Women” with focus on issues affecting maritime women that are relevant to the wider maritime community.

In South Africa, part of the reason for the country’s delegation’s attendance of the IMO event is because next year, South Africa will for the first time be the host of the conference – a development this blog wrote extensively about when the IMO made the decision fours year ago. Click on the link below for that story

https://blog.samsa.org.za/2015/12/08/south-africa-to-host-imo-assembly-in-2020/

IMG-20190719-WA0001 — DONE DEAL!: South Africa’s Minister of Transport (Left) shaking hands with Angolan Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mr Rui J. Carneiro Mangueira, during Angola’s signing of a Multilateral Search and Rescue Agreement with South Africa in London recently

Meanwhile, according to Mr Mbalula’s office on Wednesday, the Minister met with Colombia’s Ambassador to South Africa, Mr Carlos Andres Barahona Nino on Tuesday as part preparation of his visit to the south American country in a few day’s time.

According to a statement, during the meeting with Mr Nino, Mr Mbalula “highlighted the endless possibilities for job creation in the country’s maritime sector.”

The statement quoted him as saying: “As a country we can not ignore the plethora of prospects in maritime. We must strive to transform this industry and unlock the economic opportunities which lie dormant in the sector. Working with the over 170 IMO Member States, our goals will be attained.

The statement also noted that recently Mr Mbalula led a delegation to the IMO where South Africa deposited an instrument of accession to the Hazardous and Noxious Substances Protocol of 2010, and during which visit the Minister also facilitated the signing of the Multilateral Search and Rescue Agreement by Angola.

Among officials accompanying Mr Mbalula will be senior officials of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) who, the agency confirmed on Thursday, will use the opportunity to discuss and on agreement, sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Mutual Recognition of Seafarers with their Columbian counterparts.

Where possible, this blog will strive to carry and share whatever news information flows from the event.

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SA marks World Maritime Day 2019

Today South Africa celebrates World Maritime Day with an event at the Durban International Convention Centre, KwaZulu-Natal. Participants include the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).

To mark the day, this blog compiled a 14 minute video consistent with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) message for World Maritime Day 2019, which is: “Empowering Women”. The video which can be viewed on this blog’s landing (Home) page, features clips of a set of South African women in the maritime sector, featured in no specific order or special preference beyond sheer availability of visual material and production time.

The idea is to highlight, albeit very briefly, both the widespread involvement, participation as well nature of contributions females make in the country’s maritime sector. Measured in population terms, it could very well be that females make a small portion of the maritime workforce, but there is no ignoring their interests and keeness for involvement across subsectors of the sector as depicted in the video.

Watch it here

SA set to maintain its IMO STCW Convention ‘Whitelist’ status: SAMSA

Pretoria: 09 September 2019

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has once again given an assurance that South Africa will retain its status in the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) STCW Convention ‘Whitelist’.

The assurance was given by SAMSA acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi while addressing a gathering of members of the South African Institute of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (SAIMENA) in Cape Town on Friday afternoon.

He’d been invited to specifically come and address the organisation’s members on the status of the country regarding the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978 (STCW Convention) since the near fall-out earlier this year after close on two thirds of IMO Member States on the list reportedly faced removal.

The incident in April 2019 sparked fears and concerns among seafarers, shipping sector and related marine and maritime professionals across many countries, including South Africa as it reportedly risked among other things, a massive loss of jobs and likely manning challenges in the shipping transport sector.

This was averted after the IMO soon corrected the situation following to a meeting with members States. South Africa, one of 129 countries listed, had been on the IMO STCW Convention ‘Whitelist’ since 2001.

On Friday, for about half an hour during lunchtime, Mr Tilayi outlined the genesis of the challenge with regards South Africa and outlined steps that were being taken currently to ensure that the country meets its periodic review obligations to the IMO’s STCW Convention on time for the next submission due in 2020.

Throughout the process, Mr Tilayi said the maritime sector would be constantly updated and occasional involved directly for its contribution to matters such as reviews of legislation and related.

While about it, Mr Tilayi also touched on various other topics related, inclusive of the current repositioning of SAMSA as a central professional maritime administrator instrumental to the development of South Africa as maritime centre of excellence by 2030 in line with the country’s National Development Plan.

He also touched briefly on the country’s need for higher preparedness to exploit new investment opportunities being identified, similar to the burgeoning shipping bunkering services in Port Elizabeth (a.k.a Nelson Mandela Bay) on the southern east coast of South Africa.

For Mr Tilayi’s full remarks (27 minutes), click on the video below.

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South Africa’s leadership in fishers’ safety and security lauded: South East Asian countries

Cape Town: 04 September 2019

Over five days, from 26-30 August 2019, about three dozen delegates from three South East Asian countries – Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand – rubbed shoulders and closely interacted with their South African counterparts in the Western Cape, exchanging notes on the implementation of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention 188.

On their departure from South Africa at the weekend, the delegates – among them senior government officials at ministerial and director level, as well as ILO officials, were more than impressed.

In their own words, captured in the following video interviews, not only did they learn much of what they hoped for about the implementation of the ILO’s C188, but they also felt that South Africa’s leadership in the regard, and partnership going forward, were crucial in the success of their own endeavours to ensure the implementation of the instrument in their own countries to ensure the safety and security of their fishing sectors’ labour.

ILO officials, who accompanied the delegates both during a two day workshop in Cape Town on Monday and Tuesday, as well as during actual fishing vessels inspections in Cape Town, Saldanha Bay and St Helena Bay on the west coast of South Africa, led by South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) officials headed by Mr Selywn Bailey, were no less impressed.

Spoken to by this blog in the video interviews featured below, (in no particular order) were

Mr Basilio Araujo, Assistant Deputy Minister, Indonesia’s Office of the Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime Sovereignty and Resilience, Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs;
Mr Indra Setiawan, Head of Facilities and Infrastructure Section at Indonesia’s Directorate of Manpower Law Compliance, Directorate General of Inspection, Ministry of Manpower;
Ms Mi Zhou, Project Manager of the ILO’s Indonesia Sea Fisheries Project;
Ms Ma.Teresita S. Cucueco, the Phillipines director of Bureau of Working Conditions in the Department of Labour and Employment.
Mr Somboon Trisilanunt, deputy Director-General in Thailand’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW), Ministry of Labour and
Rear-Admiral Apichai Sompolgrunk, Director -General at Thailand’s Office of Maritime Security Affairs, Naval Operations Dept., Royal Thai Navy/ Command Centre to Combat Illegal Fishing (CCCIF).

Take a listen:

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