Stowaway incidents are a human tragedy that hurt the nation’s economy by raising the cost of transportation for import and export flows. Representatives from the South African government, ports, and shipping sector attended a national seminar on the prevention of stowaways in Cape Town (27–29 June), which was put on by the IMO in association with the South African Department of Transport.
For shipmasters, shipping companies, shipowners, and ship operators, stowaway occurrences make it very difficult to disembark stowaways from ships and place them in the care of the proper authorities. According to the International Group of P&I Clubs, there were 364 stowaway instances worldwide from February 2020 to February 2021, with a total of 1,050 stowaways. The costs were estimated at USD$8.9 million.
At order to prevent and deal with stowaways occurrences, seminar participants reviewed issues to be faced on board ships and in South Africa’s major ports, as well as additional measures that are required.
The purpose of all parties is to develop a holistic and integrated approach on risk management, port security, and procedures to enable the disembarkation of stowaways. Practical solutions for ship owners, masters, and crew on board ships are required. Stowaways’ negative effects on international trade and South Africa’s economy will be lessened as a result.
The United States Coast Guard, the Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS), BIMCO, the International Group of P&I Clubs, the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Standardization Organization (ISO), representatives from the major South African ports, and shipping companies (Mae) were also present at the seminar.
In order to better understand the provisions of the IMO Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic and to assist South Africa in its effort to ratify the FAL Convention, a second two-day national seminar is held on June 30 and July 1 with the main border agencies involved in the clearance of ships in South Africa. The objective is to assist government organisations in carrying out the convention, which is currently undergoing formal ratification by South Africa.
Participants are receiving training on the idea, actual planning, and execution of a maritime single window for ship clearance, which the FAL Convention will require as of 2024. The primary obstacles to digitalizing information sharing in the ship-shore interface will be discussed by the participants.
The IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme provides funding for the national seminars (ITCP).