A former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Temisan Omatseye has been elected as the President of a new body known as the African Shipowners’ Association (ASA).
Omatseye, who last year contested for the position of President of the Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), would lead ASA for the next four years.
The former NIMASA boss was elected alongside Stanley Ahorlu of Ghana who was emerged as the association’s 1st Vice President and Caroline Masala, 2nd Vice President.
Omatseye, according to reports, would be assisted by 10 Directors from other African countries.
It would be recalled that early this year, an association known as the Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) was formed with another former NISA Presidential contestant, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun elected as its first chairman.
While speaking exclusively with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY yesterday, Omatseye said the ASA election was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where major maritime industry players in Africa attended the African Union (AU) Heads of State meeting for the launch of the Decade of African Maritime Development programme.
The launch, according to reports, witnessed strategic meetings of African ship owners, heads of maritime administrations, port operators and African Heads of States.
“With the launch on Saturday, July 25, 2015, Africa will witness major changes in its maritime industry.
He said the new association would be “supporting the Association of African Maritime Administrations (AAMA) and other regional and sub-regional cooperation organizations in maritime transport”.
“ASA strongly believes in the establishment and development of African shipping lines; attracting public and private investment in ships and shipping in general; the establishment of maritime agencies within and outside Africa to enable African shipping lines improve on the coordination of their schedule and cargo handling operations; the creation of a dedicated fund for the development of the African shipping lines; the establishment of Cabotage and effective participation of private sector operators; the establishment of national and regional maritime Cabotage shipping lines to promote intra-African trade and facilitate the economic and socio-economic integration of the continent,” he said.
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