A section of sector players in the maritime industry have called for concerted efforts by the various maritime administrations in Africa to enable the industry to compete favorably with its counterparts in other continents.
Speaking in Mombasa on Thursday at the sidelines of the 6th conference of the Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA) and general assembly, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) acting Director General John Omingo reiterated that there is a need to build a competitive maritime sector in Africa through continuous engagements and sharing of ideas.
Kenya has been elected as the chair of (AAMA) for the next two years taking over from Nigeria who had taken over from South Africa with a mandate to bring out the opportunities within the blue economy, space and maritime transport industry.
Omingo said the conference also delved on how the African continent can own ships to facilitate transportation of cargo within the continent as well as harnessing opportunities in maritime transport.
“The income is not coming out very well because we don't own the ships, the ships are done by foreigners and it's time as a continent we put our minds together to own ships to facilitate regional trade and serve the continent well,” said Omingo.
He said with African continental free trade area coming up to open up the borders there is bound to be more trade within borders and increase from the 17 percent trade currently within African countries compared to 70 percent in Europe.
“African share of global trade is about 2 percent which means there is a lot to be done, so administrations come together to rally the continental approach, and coming together you can have a common voice,” Omingo added.
Zamanchonco Chonco, a member of the AAMA secretariat from South Africa said African countries should create their own solutions to problems affecting their maritime economies by creating the requisite infrastructure.
“We have 54 African countries and it’s important for us to come together and share common ideas on how we can improve within our own maritime administrations,” said Chonco, adding that countries bordering the ocean have rich resources which need to be exploited.
On his part Unathi Sonti the chairperson of the Maritime business chamber based in South Africa said matters of maritime administration should be handled amicably by all countries to ensure a common ground for the region.
Kenya hosted the 6th conference of the association of African Maritime administration (AAMA) and general assembly for the first time, which brought together delegates from the African continent.
The conference also addressed matters related to blue economy investments, environmental sustainability among others.
