Ghana strengthens seafarer commitment
Implementing a seafarer development strategy
GHANA: After announcing a strategic reset in January, the Ghana Maritime Authority has shown commitment to its new National Seafarer Development and Promotion Policy (NSDPP) during the first quarter of 2026 to pursue international partnerships, policy reform and targeted youth outreach to capitalise on a mounting global shortage of maritime labour.
The GMA has in recent months secured training commitments from major shipping lines; sent the first cohort of cadets abroad for sea-time under a new national policy; intensified efforts to ratify a long-delayed international seafarer identity convention, and launched a recruitment drive to bring the next generation of Ghanaians to the sea.
The pace of activity signals a concerted national effort to position Ghana as a competitive supplier of maritime talent to the world.
GMA Director General Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, appointed in January 2025 by President John Mahama, has been frank about the scale of the challenge. In a press release from the beginning of this year, Ail acknowledged that, despite a history of producing seafarers, the country has lost ground to regional competitors such as Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria.
His response has been to shift the GMA's orientation from passive regulator to active job creator in what he calls the “Reset Agenda”.
GMA returned from the Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global Conference in the Philippines last year with renewed focus on its seafarer and cadet community. In November 2025, the Authority announced the establishment of a dedicated committee committee to formulate a comprehensive National Seafarer Development Programme Strategy.
The 12-member Committee, chaired by the Acting Director of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation at the GMA, Dr Richard Lartey was quick to develop the NSDP which now underscores Ghana’s official framework for seafarer training, deployment, welfare, and international labour market access.
A global window of opportunity
Like many African maritime administrations, GMA cites the projected shortage of skilled seafarers as a catalyst to develop national capacity. The strategy is to use the gap and create the conditions in which a well-prepared labour-supplying nation can secure durable employment for its citizens and foreign exchange for its economy.
Ghana is moving to fill that gap through its new National Seafarer Development and Promotion Policy (NSDPP), which provides the overarching framework for all current activity. The policy is designed to transform Ghana into a competitive source of global maritime labour, with structured pathways from training through certification to international deployment.
Partnerships and placements
A tangible sign of progress came in February 2026, when three Ghanaian cadets, Albert Yaw Egyen, Bernard Bortey Alabi and Mikim Kwesi Nixon, were given a formal send-off by GMA leadership before departing for sea-time training with the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC).
Selected from an initial pool of 50 candidates through a series of assessments, interviews and medical examinations, their deployment represents the first cohort to embark on international sea-time under the NSDPP.
Ali described the programme as part of a “conveyor belt” of professional development and urged the cadets to view their achievement as both personal and national.
“Through a renewed focus on strategic leadership and persistent engagement with global shipping giants, the GMA is successfully turning the tide, opening doors that were once difficult to access, and ensuring Ghanaian talent remains competitive,” the DG said during the send-off.
Behind the scenes, the GMA has been cultivating a pipeline of further opportunities. A partnership with Hafnia, the Danish product tanker operator, has secured a commitment to employ approximately 600 Ghanaian ratings over three years, with training at the Regional Maritime University extended to meet the company's certification requirements.
“In closing ranks with industry, the Authority aims to understand regulatory hurdles that may need addressing at the policy level, while engaging for an increased quota intake for Ghanaian cadets across global shipping fleets.”
“In closing ranks with industry, the Authority aims to understand regulatory hurdles that may need addressing at the policy level, while engaging for an increased quota intake for Ghanaian cadets across global shipping fleets,” Dr Ali said in a statement issued last month.
High-level visits to Pacific International Lines (PIL), Meridian Port Services and Maersk Ghana have yielded further discussions, with PIL indicating scope to expand its cadet intake and Maersk exploring replication in Ghana of a model it implemented in Kenya that provides fully funded, 12-month sea-time placements for cadets in partnership with the Regional Maritime University.
The GMA has also engaged directly with the International Maritime Employers Council (IMEC), whose member companies together employ seafarers from countries around the world that hold internationally recognised certificates of competency, including Ghana's. Engagement with IMEC is important because it opens access to the broader network of over 250 shipping companies that collectively shape the demand side of the seafarer labour market.
Legislation lags
Last month the GMA acknowledged that the country’s failure to ratify the International Labour Organisation's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (C185) remains a hurdle that needs to be addressed.
At a stakeholder forum in Accra, attended by representatives of the Attorney General's Department, the Ghana Merchant Navy Officers Association, the National Union of Seamen and various ministries, Dr Ali described the situation as urgent.
Brazil, in particular, has imposed strict enforcement of the treaty, effectively requiring Ghanaian seafarers calling at Brazilian ports to obtain a one-year visa that involves notarised bank statements and the physical despatch of documents between the two countries.
“Nearly 25 percent of seafarers are likely to call at Brazilian ports during their tenure, and ratification would immediately replace this cumbersome process with a globally recognised biometric identity,” noted Capt Joshua Addo, Country Director for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.
“This confinement significantly affects the mental well-being of the crew.”
Beyond the bureaucratic inconvenience, Capt Teddy Mensah, President of the Maritime Professionals Club, pointed to a humanitarian dimension: seafarers from non-ratifying nations are frequently denied shore leave, spending months confined to their vessels. “This confinement significantly affects the mental well-being of the crew,” he said.
Dr Ali has expressed clear frustration at a 23-year delay since the convention's adoption, but the forum produced grounds for optimism. Joseph Kwame Kumah, a member of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, assured stakeholders that the legislature would prioritise ratification once the instrument is submitted by Cabinet. The Minister for Transport has framed the move as part of a broader ambition to align Ghana's systems with international standards.
Bringing women on board
Alongside the headline partnership activity, the GMA has been addressing a systemic challenge that has received less policy attention: the severe under-representation of women in the seafaring workforce. At a meeting with the founders of the Seawomen's Hub, a mentorship network for women in maritime recently, Dr Ali pledged quarterly financial support for the organisation and committed to using it as a vehicle for identifying and removing specific barriers through policy.
During the meeting, Esther Yayera Avorkliya, a Third Officer currently serving on a Royal Caribbean cruise vessel and the founder of the Hub, noted that when she studied Marine Engineering at the Regional Maritime University, only seven out of 107 students were women. She also pointed to the practical difficulty of finding female mentors in an industry where time zones and operational schedules make sustained contact nearly impossible.
“We want the GMA to amplify our voices and lead the advocacy for seatime opportunities, which often seem more readily available for our male counterparts.”
“It is for this reason that the Seawomen’s Hub is building a community to ensure no young woman feels isolated. We want the GMA to amplify our voices and lead the advocacy for seatime opportunities, which often seem more readily available for our male counterparts,” Avorkliya told the Director General.
The GMA has responded with commitments to push for sea-time placements for female cadets; to create a direct channel for reporting workplace concerns, and to develop career orientation sessions tailored to the demands of life at sea.
The Authority is also developing a digital platform under the NSDPP that will include real-time sea-time tracking for cadets and a direct reporting line for seafarers at sea in order to support greater accountability and welfare monitoring across the fleet, regardless of gender.
Reaching the next generation
The GMA's "Go-to-Sea" campaign reflects the understanding that supply-side development must begin well before candidates arrive at the Regional Maritime University. In March, Dr Ali led a delegation to his former secondary school, the T I Ahmadiyya Senior High School in Kumasi, to speak to students about maritime careers and challenge the perception that seafaring is either inaccessible or exclusively for those from science backgrounds.
The GMA's Chief Examiner, Capt Samuel Ofori-Danquah, and Senior Maritime Officer Marvin Ayoo conducted technical sessions detailing entry requirements, salary ranges and career progression routes from entry-level ratings to senior officers. The message was deliberately inclusive: maritime careers encompass not only deck and engineering officers but also culinary professionals, maritime lawyers, logisticians and freight forwarders.
Infrastructure and outlook
Underpinning all of this activity is a suite of institutional improvements. The GMA is set to unveil a new 12-storey head office in Accra, and expects to operationalise a new Vessel Traffic Management and Information System (VTMIS) by June 2026, incorporating a network of long-range coastal cameras that will strengthen maritime domain awareness.
Dr Ali's election in July 2025 as Vice President of the International Seabed Authority has lent additional international credibility to the GMA's reform programme.
The challenges ahead remain considerable. Ratifying C185 requires political will from Cabinet and Parliament to move quickly; seatime placements remain scarce and demand from cadets outstrips available opportunities; and gender disparities are deeply embedded in industry culture as well as in training institutions. But the direction of travel is clear. Ghana is no longer simply training seafarers and hoping for placement; it is actively selling their labour to the world.
PHOTO: Stakeholders convened in Accra, Ghana at the end of March to discuss the ratification of the International Labour Organisation's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (C185) to remove restrictions on Ghanaians at sea.
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