Ships and ports will need to be able to exchange arrival and departure data electronically from April 2019, under IMO’s Facilitation Convention. There requirements also encourage the use of a single window in which all the many agencies and authorities involved exchange data via a single point of contact. IMO says training in the treaty requirements took place during national seminars in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (13-15 November) and in Nouakchott, Mauritania (20-22 November).
The seminars highlighted the objectives of the FAL Convention: to promote public authorities to process their clearance procedures effectively and efficiently, to make the clearance of ships, their cargoes, passengers and crews in ports less cumbersome and more expedient.
Forty-six participants attended the Malabo seminar, organized by IMO and the Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Twenty-one participants from public authorities and private sectors attended the seminar in Nouakchott, organized by IMO and the Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Economy of Mauritania.