NMSA adopts safe, clean approach

SAFER, secure and cleaner seas are what everyone should be striving to ensure by having the best practices in the maritime industry and at the workplace.
The National Maritime Safety Authority’s general manager and chief executive officer Chris Rupen said this to the staff of the authority during World Maritime Day celebrations, which was observed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on Sept 29.
Rupen encouraged staff to continue to ensure they completed their tasks diligently so that the authority is able to comply to international standards set by the maritime conventions to which Papua New Guinea is signatory.
This year’s theme for World Maritime Day, he said, was an issue that affected the maritime industry and that the IMO had chosen this theme not only to focus and intensify its efforts to meet the challenges of modern-day piracy, but also to facilitate the orchestration of a broader, global response.
Rupen said that NMSA’s res­ponse to the IMO’s stand on piracy was to support and carry out the action plan set out by the IMO last February to promote this year’s maritime day theme.
NMSA’s mandate is to ensure the maritime safety needs of Papua New Guinea, its maritime industry and the public is fulfilled.
At the community level, the focus is on all stakeholders to take ownership of security at respective provincial waters to prevent attacks by vandals on small craft owners and passengers out at sea.