The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has begun the process of issuing new certificates of ship registration while at the same phasing out old ones.
According to a statement released by the NIMASA, the effort is to ensure the utilization of secured statutory certificates and avoid the entry of unseaworthy and sub-standard ships into the country.
The new regulation, which came into effect on July 1, involves the certificate of Nigerian registry, provisional certificate of registry, certificate of Nigerian registry for bareboat chartered vessel, fishing boat, and certificate of cabotage ship registry for wholly-owned Nigerian vessels, among others.
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The statement issued by NIMASA also states that all existing certificates issued by the Registrar of Ships prior to the takeoff of the new regulation remain valid and should be carried onboard vessels until their expiration, “but vessel owners or masters may apply for the re-issuance of their existing certificates”.
The agency stated that issuance of the certificates is an implementation of Section 30 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007 which stipulates that “the Registrar of Ships shall on completion of the registration of a ship, issue a certificate of registration in such form as may be approved by the agency”.
The Director-General of the Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said, “We are restructuring the Nigerian ship registration office to serve you more efficiently and effectively. We are determined to grow our national fleet and tonnage to an enviable height.
We are committed to ensuring that our ship registry remains of International Standard and this is why we have enhanced our certificates with more security features that would stand the test of time. The all-encompassing process of issuance will ensure robust screening of vessels that would visit our waters.”
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