The Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS) has made a significant stride in tackling the common challenges afflicting the maritime industry in the African continent with a keen focus on expansion, and the expansion of its mandate through the adoption of a new name Maritime Organisation for Eastern Southern and Northern Africa-MOESNA to reflect this paradigm shift.
This commitment was made through a joint communique of the 3rd Meeting of Ministers responsible for Shipping and Maritime Affairs of the Eastern, Southern, Northern Africa, and the Indian Ocean States held in Nairobi on June 27, 2024. The Assembly also welcomed Ethiopia as the latest and sixth Member State of the Organization. The commitment to move the Maritime Agenda collectively, a significant huge capital-intensive industry was reflected by the high number of representatives who attended the Nairobi meeting. It drew representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Eswatini, Burundi and Comoros. Other representatives included those from Djibouti, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Somalia and South Sudan.
The attendees were also drawn from diverse backgrounds – National Shipping lines from the region, Port Authorities, National Maritime Administrations, Terminal Operators, Freight Forwarding agencies, National Shippers’ Councils, National Insurance Regulatory Authorities, Maritime Training Institutions, Maritime Security Agencies, National Insurance Associations, Trade Facilitation Agencies, Transit and Transport Corridor Authorities, Regional Economic Communities, Diplomats and other stakeholders in the Shipping and Maritime Sector.
Meeting under the furtherance of the agenda of collaboration in the Shipping and Maritime interests of regional states, the participants reiterated the need for greater and more effective collaboration for regional states using the Indian Ocean and its connecting bodies to create a maritime economy of their own.
An estimated 80-90% of the region’s international trade is transported by sea and largely by multinationals not owned by the continent that repatriate foreign currency earned abroad.
“This desperately exposes regional economies to adverse policies and conditions and leads to the movement of colossal amounts of foreign currency out of the region, yet these are some of the areas which would better be addressed through collaboration given the enormous resources at stake,” the Ministers noted in their Joint Communique, adding that although there are some states with some capacity for sea-going vessels, no regional mechanism to support each other in the region exists. Maritime transport is one of the most complex international high-expenditure ventures. However, African States continue to lose enormous resources due to disjointed and uncoordinated approaches, even with similar aspirations and challenges.
In recent years, though, there has been an increased pursuit of maritime and shipping-related bilateral and multilateral agreements in the region, pointing to the increasing need for collaboration in the sector and echoing the need for a structured body to coordinate and implement these collaborative initiatives.
“Although land-linked states are by international law guaranteed access to the sea, they normally incur increased costs, especially in access to coastal and overseas shipping services. In the region, there does not exist any framework that defines the interface between coastal and land-linked markets. These are some of the areas that can be coordinated by the proposed Regional Maritime Organization,” the Joint Communique reads in part.
The need for an expert maritime body for sector-based research and technical advisories is paramount especially when the region is experiencing a rapidly changing maritime industry.
For instance, ISCOS’ Advisory on the domestication of Marine Cargo Insurance is assisting its current members to mitigate the flight of over US $ 500 million annually from their economies is an initiative that would be of common interest to all African States carrying out international trade, if only there was a collaborative mechanism that cuts across the region.
Another challenge facing the maritime economy in Africa is the lack of well-equipped and staffed national maritime training institutions as they are faced with several challenges including inadequately qualified staff, lack of sea time for cadets, inadequate training facilities, absence of a framework for the harmonization of curriculum among many others.
‘These institutions are not coordinated enough to have joint strategies for the development of maritime education, sharing of information, student exchange programmes or even sharing of training facilities and tools,” the Ministers noted.
“The Eastern, Southern, and North Africa region does have a regional Maritime University yet there exist two Maritime Universities shared by the Western and Central African States,” the communique said, adding that despite ships transacting global trade being manned by about 1.9 million crew, Africa’s share of this vast employment opportunity remains very decimal.
African states must start a conversation on the dimensions of Maritime carriage and transportation of cargo including how regional states must promote and invest in the ownership of vessels, look at the possibilities of container manufacturing and leasing, how to influence overseas and international markets, and many others, which can only be achieved through a joint initiative.
The safety and security of the Indian Ocean West and its adjoining bodies such as the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea should be of common interest to all states using maritime resources as a means of conveyance of their International Trade, both coastal and land-linked. Reliance on foreign partners for the safety of regional interests may not be sustainable, yet the region is still faced with threats such as piracy, the possibility of renewed terrorism at and from the sea, and pervasive human trafficking, narcotics, and arms, according to Ministers.
Even with the enormous trade opportunities offered by the Indian Ocean, trade between African states are still very minimal due to the lack of sufficient Africa-owned vessels to connect regional ports, the absence of a structured framework for the identification and progression of existing trade opportunities between regional states, that the existence of restrictive cabotage regimes which inhibit the free movement of vessels across the regional ports are crippled further by the absence of a framework for maritime collaboration between regional states.
“The promotion of trade between regional states is not sufficient without having in place strategies on how this trade will move. Maritime transport remains the most ideal method of moving large volumes of goods and initiatives such as the Africa Continental Free Trade. The agreement will be of tremendous benefit to Africa if due regard is given to Maritime Transport.”
The first and second Assembly Meetings of Ministers also noted that the revised Africa Maritime Transport Charter (AMTC) encourages regional groupings in pursuit of common goals.
The Ministers agreed in principle to brief their governments on the need for greater collaboration in the sector and the importance of their Membership to the region’s maritime body. They also noted that prospective members of the organization were at various levels of internal consultations and processes, and many were in the advanced stages of formalizing their membership to the organization. Ministers further recalled that the Democratic Republic of Congo completed her process and joined the Organisation in September 2022 as the fifth Member State.
The Ministers also noted that the organization was embarking on several programmes which require the support of Regional States and these include leading the region into a structured engagement on how regional states can have more control in the transportation of their international trade, promotion of maritime-aided intra-regional trade through a structured review of cabotage regimes, identification of trade opportunities among regional states and assisting vessels operators to map out economic promotion of the ownership of vessels.
Other programmes include the development of a regional mechanism for the engagement of multinational service providers on freight, surcharges, and other conditions of maritime carriage, providing a platform where regional states and regional shipping can have a structured engagement for the development of their capacity, support for each other and how they can leverage on each other to enhance their capacity in the transportation of the region’s cargo, developing a regional mechanism for building capacity for the Maritime, Education, and Training institutions in the region, harmonization of maritime curriculum, student exchange programmes, building partnerships with overseas training institutions and promotion of student exchange programmes, enhancing sector-based research on emerging issues, promotion of best practices in shipping and international trade and the proper use of INCOTERMS across the regional states.
Currently, Member states of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia are poised to retain US $ 500 million per annum as a result of ISCOS’ Advisory mechanisms of placing Marine Cargo insurance with local rather than foreign firms, putting in place a regional mechanism for the promotion of safety and security of the Indian Ocean which is the main maritime passage for the region’s international trade, enhancing the region’s preparedness to respond to any maritime security and environmental incidents and threats.
Other programmes which the organisation is planning to undertake are promoting the establishment of a Regional Maritime University and a Regional Maritime Bank. The Ministers noted that these require the support of regional states and urged each other to hasten their Internal consultations.
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