To streamline procedures to clear the arrival, stay and departure of ships and enhance efficiency of shipping worldwide, IMO Member States are required to use a single, centralized digital platform or "Maritime Single Window" (MSW) to collect and exchange information with ships when they call at ports.
IMO is working with the OECS* and Antigua and Barbuda – the first country to establish such a platform in the region, with support from IMO – to establish an MSW in five countries in the Eastern Caribbean sub-region.
Work is underway in St. Lucia (5-8 August), where the first of five needs assessment mission is taking place this year. This will be followed by missions in St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Dominica.
At the end of each mission, a gap analysis report of the current clearance system and identification of needs and cost analysis to establish an MSW system will be produced.
The needs assessment missions are part of a broader feasibility analysis conducted by experts from the OECS Commission and Antigua and Barbuda as an in-kind contribution.
Beyond creating MSWs, it is the aim to connect the systems to a mechanism that supports a regional central repository leveraging on the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency on Crime and Security-Joint Region Communication Centre (CARICOM IMPACS-JRCC).
In St. Lucia, The Ministry of Infrastructures, Port Services and Transport of St. Lucia hosted the meetings with national regulatory agencies and private stakeholders, and provided logistical and administrative support.
* The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).