Law Introduced in Kenya to Boost Maritime Business

Published Jun 14, 2007 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

Kenya’s Attorney General Amos Wako recently published the Merchant Shipping Bill, which, if passed, would become the first domesticated law in the maritime sector since the country’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1963. The bill has been tabled before the Kenyan parliament after the budget and may be passed as law prior to the end of next year. Once law, Kenya’s maritime sector will be governed by internationally-accepted and modern standards.

It is estimated that 3,280 skilled and experienced maritime staff make up Kenyan seafarers, but because there is no accredited training facility in Kenya for seafarers, only about 20 percent of Kenya’s total seafarers are currently working on coastal and foreign ocean going vessels. In fact, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has even blacklisted Bandari College, one of Kenya’s few training facilities, because it lacked international regulations of certification and training. Kenyan seafarers have had to train at the Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute in Tanzania because it is on the White List and most of Kenya’s merchant navy and engineer officers have received their training in South Africa, Egypt, or Britain.

The Merchant Shipping Bill, if passed, however, will change all of that. The bill will put Kenya on the path to the IMO’s White List by requiring its training facilities like Bandari College and the Railways Marine Training College (RMTC) in Kisumu to meet international regulations and provide their graduates with national merchant fleet and standard of training certification and watchkeeping (STCW) certificates. This will also ease Kenya’s dearth of marine engineers and pilots, as qualified seafarers retire and no certified ones are available to take their place. Kenyan officials further believe that the passage of this bill will entice ship owners to register their ships in Kenya. Finally the bill will also enable Kenya to have the legal structure to inspect ships and regulate marine pollution.

The Merchant Shipping Bill comes just after the passage of the bill in January that recognized the Kenya Maritime Authority, which was established in June 2004 by President Mwai Kibaki to supervise, control, and organize the country’s maritime actions. There are many more bills waiting to be published in the marine sector, such as the Marine Pollution Bill, the Inland Waters Transport Bill, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, and others.