A five-day workshop to help in the effective implementation Amendments to Chapter Six of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention which deals with the verification of packed containers is underway in Accra.
It was put together by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), in close collaboration with the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA).
The participants, drawn from nine countries in West and Central Africa, are by the end of the workshop expected to have gained the requisite knowledge and skills regarding the verification and documentation of the mass of a packed container for a true reflection of the actual gross weight.
Addressing delegates who converged at the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra for the workshop, Capt. Dallas Laryea, Regional Coordinator for West and Central Africa, Technical Cooperation Division, IMO, noted that his outfit decided to support member states to train the various stakeholders in the shipping industry, because it realised that these member states were not able to implement the SOLAS recommendation due to the lack for human and financial resources.
“When IMO comes out with these treaties, it is now left to the member states of the IMO to now implement, and over the years the IMO realised that there are countries that lack human and financial resource to implement it. …So IMO brings in its expects so that they can build the capacity of its member states.”
Explaining why it was important to implement the amendment of the SOLAS convention, Capt. Dallas noted that about 90% of world goods were transported by sea, and indicated that 60% of the goods, including medicines, frozen meat, electronic gadgets, and clothing were all packed in containers and shipped across Africa and the rest of the world.
He said shippers were supposed to give the actual weight of the containers to the shipping companies, so that proper storage plan and how to pack the ship would be done in the right way, but people do not usually do so, “they usually under-declare,” he said.
He said the act led to the loss of containers, ships, damages the marine environment and disrupts the global supply chain. He made mention of the sinking of the MSC Napoli in 2007, the capsizing of the MV Deneb in 2011, and the loss of the MOL Camfort in 2013 as a result of mis-declaration of the weight of those containers, and said there was the need to remedy the situation, hence, the amendment of Chapter Six of the SOLAS Convention.
He noted that the implementation of the amendment would have a substantial impact on operational practices between parties in the international supply chain involved in the carriage of containers by the sea and urged participants to actively participate in the workshop.
Director-Genral of Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr Alfred k Alonsi, who also addressed the participants, expressed his appreciation to IMO for making Ghana of the host the workshop.
He said the importance of the workshop cannot be overemphasized considering the contribution of shipping in the global economy in which the carriage of cargo by containers is the modern trend.
He observed that when port equipments and infrastructures prematurely wear out due to mis-declared containers, it inadvertently causes major issues for the public and for the shipping companies and hence considered the workshop very important since it will equip participants with skills needed for the verification of container weights.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, on his part, declared the government’s support to the IMO and GMA in achieving a safer marine environment.
