The amendment to the Maritime Transport (Budget Amendment) Bill will allow the chief executive officer of Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji to decide on maritime licences, says Minister for Transport Faiyaz Koya.
Mr Koya told Parliament this would improve the organisation’s agility, and it is actually going to support the growth and development of employees involved in the particular process and enable timely service delivery by MSAF.
“It will also increase our operational efficiency and staff productivity and improvement of business in the long run,” he said.
“It has been a long time coming, sir, but it needs to be done. It will also amend and extend the duration of sea route licensing (SRL) from five to 20 years and this is a very important component.
“The Government’s main intention for sea route licensing was to ensure that we actually get an improved consistency in shipping services in Fiji and to also provide route security to licensed ship operators who have heavily invested in providing these important services.”
Mr Koya said the amendment would enable the control, regulation and admin of locally registered ship operations within Fiji and territorial waters.
In addition, Mr Koya said the amendment would protect existing domestic shipping service providers from competition in a limited market.
“The allocated routes will be protected from encroachment by other ship operators and this actually ensures the shipowners of returns on their investment.”
