The Consulate General of Panama in Hong Kong welcomed the visit of the Director General of Merchant Marine from Panama Maritime Authority, Mr. Rafael Cigarruista.
During his visit, he met the most important clients of this Consulate and to government departments related to the maritime and transport sector in Hong Kong, and topics such as the ones below were discussed:
1. The benefit that the SEGUMAR office in Hong Kong has brought since its opening since the communication channels and service provided by them have been excellent and many of the clients have praised the change and service provided even on days of parties.
2. The number of detentions due to the PARIS MOU, with emphasis on the ports in Italy which on several occasions is due to misinterpretation by the PSC.
3. Inconvenience by customers in the Annual Safety Inspections (ASI) since the inspectors request inspections of ships without monitoring by the offices of the Panama Maritime Authority.
4. Participation by the AMP in internal forums of the companies regarding the issue of decarbonization.
With the government departments, discussions of mutual cooperation and exchange of information between Panama and Hong Kong were raised, they expressed their gratitude for having a technical office in Hong Kong since it allows them to have immediate communication in case of any disagreement with ships under the Panama flag in this jurisdiction. The Marine Department of Hong Kong SAR presented their services and monitoring system (VTS – Vessel Traffic Service System) which allows them to respond effectively and quickly in case of accidents in Hong Kong waters, since they are connected to the Search and Rescue (SAR) system it allows them to have better control over any incident. The Hong Kong Transport and Logistics Bureau provided information on how the office works, being a government ministry, and invited the Consulate General and the Panama Maritime Authority to participate in the Hong Kong maritime week.
The Director General of the Merchant Marine stated that the registry is aware of the situations mentioned by clients and improvements are being made to the system to have greater control over inspections, international inspectors, and the fact that inspectors have been canceled worldwide for non-compliance with the rules, as well as, the statistics of our fleet within the MOU were presented to clients and government departments; which demonstrates a high level and soon we will be part of QUALSHIP 21.
In this sense, the Director General expressed his great interest in establishing links through the diplomatic channel for future cooperation between the two governments in terms of systems modernization, transport and decarbonization.
To close his visit in Hong Kong, a reception was organized in which guests from various marine services companies from Hong Kong and Mainland China attended. The Consul General, Mr. Jaime Campuzano and Director General, Mr. Rafael Cigarruista gave the welcome and opened the ceremony together, passing the stage later on to Mr. Cigarruista for his presentation on the latest statistics of Panama Ship Registry.
