BY: Mohamed Sahr
Commemorating World Maritime Day with theme “The Future, Safety First” Manager of Safety at the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration explained the sector’s role to ensure safety of both local and international vessels. She made this statement in an interview with Radio Democracy 98.1 in Freetown on Thursday 26th September 2024.
Regina Conteh Khali, Manager of Safety at the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration said the Safety Department seeks to ensure that all vessels within the twelve nautical miles of the country’s sea and those coming are sea worthy. Adding that even the crews, passengers remain safe to the environment.
Madam Conteh Khali affirmed that the sector also ensures safety navigation, thereby prioritizing the protection of lives and environment.
She alluded that during the course of the International Maritime Convention and Treaties including the Merchant Shipping Act, Yaounde Code of Conduct, UNCLOS, Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, and the ICC International Maritime Bureau among others, their task was to ratify and domesticate those international instruments in the country’s maritime legislation. “We ensure that they are implemented especially on vessels,” she said.
Madam Conteh Khali mentioned that their work extends to periodic port state inspection of both local vessels and international vessels to enhance safety and compliance to international standards.
She said though Sierra Leone remains part of the Zone F region in the Gulf of Guinea, the sector continued to enhance coordination and cooperation to amplifying the blue economy.
