HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON STRENGTHENING INTER ISLAND AND LOGISTICS Suva, FIJI 23 25 July 2013 FACILITATION OF MARITIME TRANSPORT Julian Abril Head of Section of Facilitation Maritime Safety Division International Maritime Organization jabril@imo.org
IMO specialized UN agency London headquarters Annual budget 30+ million Secretariat 300 staff 170 Member States IGOs and NGOs Main Conventions: 98.9 % world tonnage IMO NO POLICING MANDATE
Trade facilitation at sea Unnecessary paperwork is a problem in most industries maritime transport is no different. Important tool against the poverty and the economy growth of the Economy of a Country. Specific problem: Complexity of the port: different activities, authorities and private interests conquer in the port: utmost importance of the coordination between the actors in the clearance of the ship and her cargo. Balance between security/responsibility of the port State and the facilitation.
Cutting the Red Tape Documents required by customs, immigration, health and other public authorities: same information in different forms depending the authority. Facilitation measures comprise the two main elements: Facilitation of shipping documentation; and Facilitation of trade documentation.
Importance of the Facilitation in the Economy Transport is a key factor in the growth of the Economy. Time has direct impact to the increase of transport costs: efficient transport. Ship s daily freight is very high, and any delay during transport makes the costs to increase. There is a need to reduce the time scales of a ship: determine the documents and procedures needed for port State s appropriate control.
Analysis of FAL Convention Adopted on 9 April 1965. Number of Contracting Governments 115. 58 IMO Member States are not part of FAL yet. 16 articles. Annex: 7 sections. It is not compulsory. Applies equally to ships on coastal and noncoastal navigation, not applicable to warships and pleasure crafts. Manual of the FAL Convention.
FAL Convention Objectives Prevent unnecessary delays in maritime traffic: simplifying and minimising formalities, documents and procedures Promote co operation between Contracting Governments Uniformity in formalities (documents) and procedures (clearance) Reduce to a (maximum) of 7 the number of declarations which can be required by public authorities
The annex contains: Standards: those measures necessary and practicable in order to facilitate international maritime traffic. Contracting Governments that finds impracticable to comply with Standards, shall inform the IMO and notify differences between its own practice and such standard; Recommended Practices: measures which the application is desirable. Contracting Governments are urged to bring their formalities, documentary requirements and procedures into accord with Recommended Practices insofar as practicable. They shall notify the IMO thereof
Standardized forms 1 IMO General Declaration 2 IMO Cargo Declaration 3 IMO Ship s Stores Declaration 4 IMO Crew Effects Declaration 5 IMO Crew List 6 IMO Passenger List 7 Dangerous Goods Manifest
Solutions for a more efficient maritime transport Ratify the FAL Convention, and promote its effective implementation. National FAL Committee: FAL recommends the creation of a coordinator body for the effective national implementation of the measures of the FAL Convention; it may simplify documents, procedures and it is the forum for meeting the administrations and the private interests. Promotion of EDI and Single Window in the port: coordination administrations and business. Complexity SW depending on country situation and needs.
Administrative burden for seafarers FAL looks for harmonization, and this is a long walk to make maritime trade facilitation is a process of continuous improvement, similar to ISO 9000 During FAL 38 Denmark made a presentation regarding administrative burden experience of a Danish Master.
Key issues of the presentation The master of the ship that visited 6 European ports had to present more than 80 documents for the clearance of the ship, further 42 documents previously sent by email. The problem is not only the high number of documents requested, but the own formats adopted by some countries, and even different formats in the same country
World Bank s Doing Business 2013 Country Figures Trading rank across borders Documents Time (days) Costs US$ per Container Singapur (US$) 42930 Population 5.2 m 1 Export: 4 5 456 Import: 4 4 439 Uzbekistan (US$) 1510 Population 29.3 m 185 Export: 13 80 4585 Import: 14 99 4750 Australia (US$) 65477 Population 22.6 m 44 Export: 6 9 1100 Import: 7 8 1120 Fiji (US$) 3680 Population 0,9 m 111 Export: 10 22 655 Import: 10 23 635
Country Figures Trading rank across borders Documents Time (days) Costs U0S$ per Container New Zealand (US$) 36648 Population 4.4 m 25 Export: 5 10 870 Import: 6 9 825 Philippines (US$) 2210 Population 94.9 m 53 Export: 7 15 585 Import: 8 14 660 Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Papua New Guinea (US$) 1480 Population 7.0 m (US$) 3190 Population 0,2 m (US$) 1110 Population 0.6 m (US$) 3580 Population 0.1 m (US$) 2870 Population 0.2 m 120 66 86 77 132 Export: 7 23 949 Import: 9 32 1130 Export: 5 25 690 Import: 6 28 775 Export: 7 24 1070 Import: 5 20 1037 Export: 6 22 755 Import: 6 26 740 Export: 7 21 1690 Import: 8 20 1690
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