West Africa to Promote Electronic Data Exchange for Vessels

Ships and ports will need to be able to exchange arrival and departure data electronically from April 2019, under International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Facilitation Convention said a press note.

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. 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 Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (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.