The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has initiated action to facilitate the implementation of a Vessel Traffic Monitoring and information System (VTMS), to address security and safety problems and enhance the electronic surveillance of Ghana’s maritime domain.

Mr. I. P. Azuma, Director General of the GMA, said this at the just ended oil and gas conference for the transport sector in Accra on Thursday and, explained that the system covered the Automatic Identification Tracking System (AIS) and the Long Range Identification and Tracking System (LRIT) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The two-day conference was organized by the Ministry of Transport under the theme `Positioning the transport sector for the successful exploitation of Ghana’s oil and gas`.

Mr. Azuma, who was the chairman for the first session of the conference, therefore appealed to government to support the GMA to implement “this system as soon as possible”.

Participants at the session also stressed the need to institute either and effective response system or  a contingency plan to effectively address oil spillage problems.

They called for the enactment of appropriate legislation to regulate the safety of offshore platforms and subsidiary legislation of effectively enforce the carbotage provision under the Ghana Shipping Act 2003, Act 645.

Professor Martin Tsamenyi, a Maritime Consultant from the University of Wollongong, Australia, who delivered a paper on `Developing capacity for addressing safety, security and marine pollution concerns arising from the oil and gas industry, noted that though offshore oil and gas would be a welcome revenue earner for Ghana, “this golden opportunity must be equally matched by investment in human resource development and state of the art technology”.

He noted that the GMA through technical assistance from the IMO had prepared and finalized a bill on the prevention of ships source pollution of the marine environment covering six instruments of the IMO on oil pollution. These, according to Prof. Tsamenyi are `Pollution from garbage, sewage, hazardous and noxious substances: Civil liability concerning ships source pollution of the fund convention on compensation of coastal states for damage caused by ships`.

That, he said, was good and comprehensive and should be enacted as soon as possible.

Prof. Tsamenyi observed that a port state regime had been incorporated in the Ghana Shipping Act 2003, Act 645, to enable marine inspectors and surveyors to inspect tankers that would be calling at the oil floating, production and storage facilities offshore to ensure that the tankers calling at the platforms are seaworthy.

He therefore urged the government to support the GMA in terms of logistics to enable the Authority’s surveyors and inspectors to move regularly to the off-shore project area to inspect the vessels.

Prof. Tsamenyi urged the government to consider establishing a cross agency or departmental policy coordination and implementation framework to avoid conflict, duplication and inefficiency from too many agencies involved in the development of the offshore oil and gas sector.

Culled from The Ghanaian Times, Monday, July, 20,2009.