Annual Port State Control Committee Meeting
Alfred Powery, Deputy Director of Registration, speaks
at the opening of the 10th meeting of the Caribbean
Memorandum of Understanding of the Port State
Control Committee
Friday, June 10, 2005
The Cayman Islands was designated to host the tenth Annual Caribbean Port
State Control Meeting, which took this week Tuesday, 7 June until Thursday, 9
June at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort.
Giving the keynote address was the Leader of Government Business, Hon Kurt
Tibbetts.
Present at the meeting were also delegates from the Caribbean Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) from Aruba, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados,
Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad &
Tobago.
Port State Control (PSC) currently falls under the responsibility of the
Cayman Islands Shipping Registry (CISR), which, in conjunction with the Cayman
Islands Investment Bureau, was responsible for the coordination of the
meeting.
The Cayman Islands is a part of the Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
on Port State Control, under which the CISR helps to ensure the requirements
for safety, security and pollution prevention of foreign ships visiting Cayman
are being met.
If not, the port state has a duty to take steps to minimize the risks to
the ship, those onboard and to the marine environment, and may even detain the
ship if it is considered the risks are great enough.
Under the MOU, the member countries have agreed to adopt a common approach
to conducting inspections and sharing information on ships they have
inspected.
During his keynote speech, Hon Mr Tibbetts said:
“The Cayman Islands has a rich maritime history and has been a British Port
of Registry since 1903. More recently, the Cayman Islands reached Category 1
Status as a British Register, essentially allowing the full range of ships to
be registered under the Cayman Islands Maritime Administration.
Later in his speech, Mr Tibbetts commented: “A state with a well developed
‘Flag’ Administration will already have within it much of the expertise and
resources needed for Port State inspections.
“The Cayman Islands falls into this category and I am pleased to report
that insofar as the inspection of Cayman ships in foreign ports is concerned,
we have achieved “white list” status with both the Paris MOU and the United
States Coast Guard. This is an enviable reputation and requires constant
vigilance to maintain.”
Speakers at the official opening of the meeting on Tuesday morning included
Ivor English, Chairman of the Caribbean Port State Control Committee; Curtis
Roach, Regional maritime Advisor (Caribbean); Alfred Powery, Deputy Director
of Registration, and Dwight Gardiner, Chairman of the Caribbean Port State
Control Committee.
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