Senior maritime officials from Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) gathered in Auckland, New Zealand (8-10 December) for a regional workshop aimed at strengthening the implementation of Port State Control (PSC) policies and procedures.
Participants addressed common challenges faced by the Pacific SIDS, including:
Turning international rules into national legislation;
Gaps in institutional frameworks;
Improving policy and regional coordination;
Follow-up on issues identified in IMSAS audits; and
Strengthening inspection capacity.
A key feature was the on-site shipboard training at the Port of Auckland, coordinated by Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), which provided practical exposure to PSC inspection techniques in an operational setting.
The workshop was delivered under the IMO-Republic of Korea SMART-C Leaders Project, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and MNZ. It brought together policy and technical officials, specialists and experienced inspectors from Pacific SIDS, IMO, ESCAP, MNZ, the World Maritime University (WMU) and the Tokyo MoU.
The event provided a platform to exchange experiences and identify practical ways to further support compliance and enforcement in the Pacific SIDS. Participating countries included Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Following the regional workshop, Tonga and Vanuatu representatives took part in follow-up workshops in Auckland (11-16 December) focusing on implementation of the IMSAS Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and preparation for effective participation in IMO meetings.
The activities support the ongoing capacity-building efforts under the SMART-C Leaders Project to strengthen compliance with IMO instruments, focusing on ship inspection, Port State Control (PSC) and Flag State Inspection (FSI).
