IMO Audit Scheme not to be feared

The Voluntary International Maritime Organisation Member State Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) is to be welcomed rather than feared, delegates to a landmark Caribbean workshop held in Jamaica last week were told.

"The audit is not to be feared. The aim is to assist us in seeing the things we are doing right, and fixing the things that need fixing," Rear Admiral Peter Brady told delegates attending last week's five-day workshop, which was hosted by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica at the Courtleigh Hotel from May 2-6.

"It is best that we do it now while the scheme is voluntary, as, in a number of years, not too long from now, it will become mandatory in a different form. Those of us who opt to take up the challenge now will be ahead of the game," he advised. The course will give Flag State administrators the tools to oversee their country's preparation to be audited. Jamaica will be audited in September 2011.

Vimsas requirements

The workshop was delivered under the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)/Singapore Third Country Training Programme. Its aim is to take administrators through VIMSAS requirements, emphasising the critical information for the audit. The mandatory IMO instruments, as well as areas of particular interest under flag, port and coastal State obligations, including adequate laws to give effect to the conventions and enforcement capabilities, were reviewed.

Lam Yi Young, chief executive officer of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, attended the conference along with representatives from the IMO and the Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control.

Young said, "Our experience with VIMSAS has further reinforced our view that the scheme is crucial in raising the overall quality of shipping. In developing this workshop, Singapore worked with the IMO on a programme that aims to help participants understand the objectives of the VIMSAS and its various aspects, such as the preparation for the audit, the audit process and follow-up actions.

"We are glad that we now have the opportunity to share our experience at this regional workshop for the Caribbean countries."

Jamaica has been a member of the IMO since 1976, and has strongly supported the efforts of the organisation to establish internationally accepted regulations to more effectively promote the ideals of maritime safety, security, improved working conditions for seafarers and pollution prevention measures.

VIMSAS was introduced by the IMO in 2005 to ensure member states are giving full and complete effect to the international maritime conventions that they are party to. The aim of the audit scheme is to address the existence of substandard shipping, as, although various schemes are in place to ensure safe, secure and environmentally friendly shipping, the international maritime community still has to contend with those who seek to operate below the minimum standards.

Participating Caribbean countries were Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.