The Facilitation Committee (FAL) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has approved a global strategy for maritime digitalization as well as cybersecurity measures for maritime single windows.

COMOROS: A four-day workshop held at the end of March helped equip local officials with skills to evaluate their own implementation of international security requirements in the country’s ports. 

SEYCHELLES: Ocean Ramsey, a marine conservationist, shark behaviour specialist, and free diver known for her close, cage-free interactions with sharks to challenge public perception and promote ocean protection, paid a courtesy call on President Dr Patrick Herminie at the end of March.

SOUTH AFRICA: Preferred bidders for two landmark concessions in the Maydon Wharf Precinct in the Port of Durban now will enter into final discussions with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to finalise Terminal Operating Agreements.

IMO Member States have until the 4 May to apply to become one of up to six countries to participate in a new initiative aimed at eradicating violence and harassment at sea.

NIGERIA: African leaders affirmed their commitment to position African ports as environmentally responsible partners that strengthen competitiveness and efficiency within the transport system during a workshop that highlighted the findings of a continental report aimed at addressing priority areas for operational transformation.

CAMEROON: The UK Government has announced £13 million in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to enable developing economies to participate more effectively in the global trading system and has transferred £1m to the WTO Fisheries Fund.

SOUTH AFRICA: The Western Cape High Court this month kept alive a significant legal claim by two South African fruit terminal companies against Maersk Logistics and Services South Africa and four others where allegations of unlawful competition, the misuse of confidential business information, and the deliberate poaching of key employees to give a new cold-storage operation an unfair head start in the market are being deliberated.