KPT chief urges review of maritime standards

Fuente: The News International Pakistan
Dec 21, 2006

KARACHI: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) should review the standards and recommended practices contained in the FAL Convention and determine whether these should be amended to make them more universally acceptable.

Chairman Karachi Port Trust Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat said this while addressing the concluding session of a four-day IMO workshop here on Thursday.

He said the IMO might provide a mechanism to assist those trying to implement the FAL Convention to review the differences and other measures taken by them to align national requirements and procedures with those of the convention.

“IMO may consider the proposals made here by the participants and take appropriate action. Their recommendation on stowaways and International Ship and Port Facility Security Code have to be seen more closely as the menace of stowaways continues to impose a heavy burden on ships and crews and on the shipping industry as a whole,” he said.

He said there were few teething problems reported about the new Pakistan Customs Computerized System (PACCS), but hopefully those would be addressed. He said Pakistan Customs, the shipping and port industries have now entered a new era in their joint efforts to facilitate the maritime traffic.

As regards developments relating to E-business in the area of maritime traffic and submission of information to a single point (single window), we have to look beyond the FAL forms, and develop single window operation, he said and added that in this way all data would be entered once and would be available on the Port Net for all parties to share.

He said revolution in information technology, phenomenal growth in world trade and demand for timely delivery of goods had necessitated trade facilitations and that documentation requirements and non-transparent regulations were the impediments to facilitation.

Realizing these factors the KPT adopted computerization with the aim to reduce paper work to the barest minimum, he said. E-commerce has been introduced at different functional levels including e-PAS for electronic submission of IGM, the e-Wharfage for lodging Wharfage claim, the e-NDC for shipping lines, and e-MMD for Marine Mercantile Department to send their MMD certificate information prior to sailing of vessel, he added.

He said like all other international ports, the KPT’s computerization efforts are based on paperless port concept. Electronic information transfer is the order of the day and the time and volume of documentation has greatly reduced, he added.

He thanked IMO consultants Brian Rodney Watt (South Africa) and Anthony Nicholas Perry (UK) for conducting the workshop.

Muhammad Rajpar of Chairman Ship Agents Association, Sabir Hassan of Stevedore Conference and Javed Mansoor of National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee were also present on the occasion.