Jamaica signs International Maritime Convention

Dr Morais Guy, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, deposited Instruments of Accession on the Convention of Maritime Salvage (1989) and two Maritime Protocols on behalf of the Jamaican Government at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) secretariat in London on November 28. The instruments were presented to the IMO Secretary General, Koji Sekimizu.

Dr Guy headed Jamaica's delegation to the 28th IMO Assembly which ran from November 25 to December 4.

The Salvage Convention has removed the old 'no cure no pay' principle whereby salvers would not be entitled to an award unless their actions were successful. This served as a disincentive to salvers, many of whom were reluctant to spend time and money assisting a vessel in distress where there were risks that the vessel would be lost. According to Bertrand Smith, director, legal affairs at the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, "Jamaica has had a number of accidents involving ships, which have resulted in major salvage operations, the most recent being the LPG tanker, Oceanic Power which ran aground in Kingston Harbour in 2012. As the volume of traffic transiting our waters and calling at Jamaican ports increases with the expansion of the Panama Canal, it is important that salvers are not discouraged from responding to incidents which could result in significant environmental damage to our fragile marine resources".

According to a news report from the Jamaica Information Service, the protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and the 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf, means that Jamaica, as a maritime state, is now party to an internationally acceptable legal framework to deal with current maritime security risks, as well as a clear mechanism for co-operating with security partners in dealing with threats against shipping.

Dr Guy told Sekimizu that the instruments are a sign of Jamaica's continued commitment to the work of the IMO.