ED Reveals Plans for a New University
The Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration, Paul Sobba Maasaquoi said the Administration focused on the domestication of all International Conventions in order to achieve the STCW white flag which will ultimately provide certain facilities and authority to the Sierra Leone
Maritime such as increase in the country’s blue economy revenue by 35% as well as the establishment of the First Sierra Leone Maritime Academy/University in the country.
Following the assessment of the poor system that was in place for the registration of vessels, an Agreement was made with the International Ship Registry to launch a new Software system which will harmonize both the International Registry and the National Registry. The following are the benefits of the digitalization of the Ship registry: apart from the technological advancement of the registry is the complete rectification of certain IMSAS findings and compliance with III Code. Furthermore, he revealed that an additional advantage is that revenues will be protected and properly accounted for, through proper reconciliation; in addition, the digitalization will help the Administration to meet its international IMO obligations in regards to establishing control mechanisms and reporting; the software will minimize human error and fasten the whole registration procedure, allowing the staff to focus on new tasks and developments; the bureaucracy and paperwork will significantly diminish as everything will be submitted and issued electronically and this is a major development for our registry that will go down the maritime history of the country.