By The Observer Staff
(Basseterre, St. Kitts) – The most recent ship to make St. Kitts and Nevis Ship Registry its home is the MV Mutty Pride of Anguilla. The Mutty Pride sailed into Basseterre Harbour Tuesday morning with a cargo of cement and docked at the deep water pier alongside another St. Kitts and Nevis flagged vessel, MV Lady Mignone.
“It’s not often you see one of your own ships in St. Kitts and Nevis waters as the bulk of our ships trade as far as Dubai,” Director of Maritime Affairs Mc Clean Hobson, who visited the ship and manages close to 600 hundred ships on behalf of the Ministry of transport, said. “For me it’s historic as this is the first Anguillan ship on the St. Kitts and Nevis ship Registry and I am sure more will be coming.”
The St. Kitts and Nevis Ship Registry was established in 2005 as part of Government’s thrust to capitalize on foreign exchange while carrying out its international maritime obligations.
As operations grow, the registry can be an important source of government revenue and help create maritime-related jobs for Federations citizens, Mr. Hobson said.
“It has the potential to replace the loss of revenue from the closure of the sugar industry,” Mr. Hobson said. Referring to Panama and other major registry centers, he said that in the future, “We hope to be up there with the really big guys.”
The St. Kitts and Nevis Ship Registry, with an operational office in London and Special Agents appointed in Moscow, Monaco, Panama, Greece, Singapore and Dubai, is one of the fastest growing ship registries in the world.
The Federation is part of the International Maritime Organization, which oversees shipping standards and rules around the world, Mr. Hobson said. The IMO is an agency of the United Nations.
“It can’t be left willy-nilly to each country to come with its own standards,” he said. “We have a very serious responsibility. We have to make sure the ships are up to IMO standards.”
At its web site, the IMO offers an outline of its development and responsibilities:
“The ownership and management chain surrounding any ship can embrace many countries and ships spend their economic life moving between different jurisdictions, often far from the country of registry. There is, therefore, a need for international standards to regulate shipping – which can be adopted and accepted by all. The first maritime treaties date back to the 19th century. Later, the ‘Titanic’ disaster of 1912 spawned the first international safety of life at sea – SOLAS – convention, still the most important treaty addressing maritime safety.
”The Convention establishing the International Maritime Organization was adopted in Geneva in 1948 and IMO first met in 1959. IMO’s main task has been to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping and its remit today includes safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping.
”A specialized agency of the United Nations with 167 Member States and three Associate Members, IMO is based in the United Kingdom with around 300 international staff.
”The result is a comprehensive body of international conventions, supported by hundreds of recommendations governing every facet of shipping. There are, firstly, measures aimed at the prevention of accidents, including standards for ship design, construction, equipment, operation and manning – including a convention for the prevention of pollution by ships and a convention on standards of training for seafarers.”
For more information on the SKN Registry go to www.stkittsnevisregistry.net
