THE CARIBBEAN Shipping Association (CSA) is to convene a two-day regional workshop this month to focus on the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. The workshop will be held from March 24 -25 in Antigua & Barbuda.
The ISPS Code is being implemented by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and sets out specific guidelines and requirements for ships and port facilities to meet in order to be certified for trading with other ports.
The objective of the course is to create an understanding of the ISPS Code and the actions required for implementation as a well as to provide an overview of the maritime security framework at ports and terminals in the region. Target groups include exporters, importers, hauliers, wharf operators, shipping agents, custom brokers, security personnel, the private sector and members of the public.
General Manager of the CSA, Stephen Bell, said the CSA saw the need to organise the workshop to ensure that its members had all the pertinent information about the ISPS Code and also to provide support for members with smaller port facilities.
"We all have to understand that it cannot be business as usual there are new requirements for trading and we must conform or perish," he noted. He said the sensitisation about ISPS in the local port community in Jamaica had been high, and the CSA wanted to ensure a parallel level of awareness in other member-countries.
"I encourage persons to participate," said Mr. Bell, while expressing the hope for the seminar to be one in a series over the next couple of months. Participants are expected from Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, United States of America and Venezuela.
The CSA has over 100 members, including wharf and terminal operators, shipping agents, port and ship owners and operators, among others.
The CSA Secretariat is based in Kingston, Jamaica at the Shipping Association of Jamaica Office Complex, 4 Fourth Avenue, Newport West. Further information can be obtained from the CSA website www.caribbeanshipping.org.
