43
June

2013

Maritime Affairs and CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR,
Credits from Societyor
Is It More?
by J.A.A.J. (Jan) Fransen

Managing Director of Green Award Foundation

Today, we see that an increasing amount of
global players sponsor events or activities that
benefit the society that they are working in orcompany’s activities that affect the society intheir immediate neighborhood.
When viewing annual reports of thesecompanies, it is often noticed that thesesponsored activities are listed in a dedicatedparagraph named Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR).
It is without saying that these activities could
have a positive effect on the relationshipbetween the company and its environs and canbe regarded as a sign of goodwill.
Can this be regarded as a proper implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility
as it is described in the ISO 26000 standard?
Sometimes one could get the feeling that CSR
is just another hype that is embraced bycompanies in order to manoeuvre themselves
into a better market position. What are thedrivers for a company to become socially
responsible? Is it ethical responsibility, customer
demand, keeping up with competitors or justshowing that one tries to do business in asustainable way? The answer is not easy,
although it seems likely that customer demandand industry competitiveness are the main
drivers of today.
Perhaps this is too idealistic to some extent,

but shouldn’t CSR principles be commonly
accepted as a part of our daily business, in otherwords “business as usual”?
What is CSR?
The ISO standard 26000 describes the conceptof CSR and offers voluntary guidance forconsideration to find the optimum/suitableeffects.
This standard is meant to guide a company toimplement CSR principles and is certainly not
meant as a standard to be used for certification
with compliance requirements. Nonetheless,unfortunately, you will notice that there are somecertifiable standards offered as an ISO 26000
spinoff here and there.
The fundamental aspects of CSR lie in theso-called Triple Bottom Line (3BL), the People,
Planet and Profit. A good implementation of
CSR entails juggling the 3BL and establishing abalance that contributes to society as a whole, in
consultation with company stakeholders.
Up to 7 key recommendations can be taken
into consideration when determining the best
actions to be utilized addressing the 3BL.
Actions that are efficient and effective for one
company are not necessarily useful for another.
All depends very much on the nature of thebusiness, the geographical impact and thestakeholders involved.

A tragic incident
Perhaps we can use a very recent, tragic incident
as an example to see how this could be linked toa CSR policy for a company.
In April 2013, the building collapse of aclothing manufacturer resulted in over 1000
workers being killed. The various clothing
brands using this manufacturing site are now
accused by the public of having focused on“quick profits” as well as having disregarded
concerns about safety, environment and labor
practices.
These public accusations very much reflect
some of the 7 key recommendations in the ISO
26000: Organizational governance, humanMaritime Affairs and CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR,
Credits from Societyor
Is It More?

rights, labor practices, the environment, fair
operating practices, consumer issues, andcommunity involvement and development.
It is too early to determine who is to be
blamed for this tragedy, but certainly if acompany were to implement CSR policies,
focusing on the 3 key subjects in theirevaluation - relevance, significance andinfluence - then perhaps things would havegone differently.
In their communications with the stakeholders (manufacturers, consumers, local community, etc.) a different approach to the basis of
CSR (People, Planet, and Profit) could have led
to a healthier situation.
Pertinence to the Maritime Industry
The Hong Kong convention on ship recycling,
the type and quality of fuel used for propulsion,
innovations on energy conservation, labor
employed on board ships, cargo operations, andnavigational routes - these are just a few
examples of topics to be considered whendeveloping CSR policies, by juggling the 3BL
when determining their relevance, significanceand link to the stakeholders of the company.
Several of the above mentioned examples aredealt with by international regulations, although
this is not at a desirable speed. Therefore, froman ethical point of view, shipping companies,
shippers and charterers could decide to go theextra mile in the early implementation of
upcoming regulations or to maintain highstandard policies on issues that are notregulated.

On the other hand, for ports, theimplementation of CSR policies becomes more
complex, since they deal with both the “wet”
and “dry” sides of the industry along with theirdirect relationship to society. It is a real
“juggling” act, concerning the demands fromthe local industries, society and shipping
companies, with the ports sitting right in thecentre of the maritime supply chain. For thisreason, the impact the ports can make on thesocial aspects of the maritime industry isimmense, regardless of the complexity of theirimplementation.
Initiatives from the Maritime Industry
Some organizations promote the best practices
in many different forms: providing guidelines
and recommendations, promoting the newest
technology, regulating air emissions, educating& t r a i n i n g f o r a w a r e n e s s , e t c . Th e
certification/incentive scheme of Green Award
Foundation and those other social, environmental or safety initiatives are used as tools tomotivate the maritime industry to go the extra
mile in addressing the aforementioned topics.
Using Green Award as an example, the main
objective of the foundation is to create a
network of ship managers/owners and othermaritime related organizations to gaininternational recognition and a marketplace for
quality tonnage for extra clean and extra safe
vessels. The certification scheme ensures thatboth the ship manager and the ships areaudited/surveyed in order to verify the link
between the management system and the2

implementation. To do so the ships are applied
for individually by the ship managers and every
ship is surveyed by the in-house trained
exclusive Green Award surveyors. Besides
running the certification scheme, Green Award
also creates a network of Incentive Providers,
who reward certified ships with either financial
or operational incentives. From ports, pilotorganizations, ship routing companies, training
organizations, manufacturers, to banks, there
are diverse forms of organizations granting
incentives.
At Green Award, we aim to work with otherinitiatives that strive for similar goals by finding
synergies to create a win-win situation. Green
Award works closely with quality shipping
promoters such as Rightship and Equasis, bothof which provide extra recognition to Green
Award certified ships. Green Award also
belongs to the core working group and closelycollaborates with the ESI system run by the
IAPH/WPCI (World Ports Climate
Initiative), in which the system is integrated
into the Green Award requirements andshipping companies and ships are granted
scores for participation and a high ESI index.
Besides these, many industry representatives
such as IACS, BIMCO, OCIMF, SIGTTO,
INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO, CDI,
P&I, HELMEPA, etc., act as governing bodies
to the foundation, where each member shares
its expertise in implementing the best practices.
Conclusion
Considering the broad involvement of themaritime industry in social aspects, it isinevitable for the entire industry to not only
consider the shipping side, but also the whole
supply chain; to re-think the true essence ofsocial responsibility. Again, is CSR merely
credits from society? Can it not be embedded
into our daily business routine? Whether you
are a manufacturer, shipper, charterer, shipowner/manager, port, certification body, service
provider, and last but certainly not least, asimple end-user, you can make a difference byfeeling responsible for that one thing happening
on the other side of the world. Green Award
believes that with the certification scheme, a
network of incentive providers, and synergizing
with other organizations, a true industry-widesocial responsibility is achieved.

A challenging role fora person of the MET family at WMU
Takeshi Nakazawa,

Secretary,
International Association of Maritime Universities

New Life in Tokyo
As some of you may know from the WMU
website, I have newly assumed the role of theSecretary of the International Association of
Mar itime Universities (IAMU) sinceNovember 2012, which is more or less a
special contract as I still have a professorshipat WMU. This means that I wil l haveopportunities to provide lectures and to be
involved in other academic activities at theuniversity, though the total workload for
WMU is reduced to two months per year.
In the middle of December 2012, I moved
back to Japan from Malmö, where I stayed
for more than 10 years, and found a small
apartment in fashionable Kichijoji, which isin the west part of Tokyo. Since my office islocated in the center of Tokyo, I spend about
an hour and a half commuting in jam-packed
trains to work every weekday. Although I
have not yet gotten used to these conditions, I
feel that I have gradually adapted to my newlife in Tokyo.

policy of both network development andcapacity building for the global maritime community. In addition, many of the member institutions have made agreements among themselves to exchange academic staff as well as
students in their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
The association is also a non-governmental
international organization that has been granted
consultative status with the International
Maritime Organization. Therefore, theassociation has continually sent at least one
delegate to meetings at IMO in order for
member institutions to update current hot topics
discussed there.
Membership criteria for maritime institutions
are to offer both undergraduate and post
graduate courses in the field of maritime
education and training as well as maritime
transport, which are defined by the association’s
Basic Agreement. If the maritime institution
you belong to or know well meets the criteria
and the institution is interested in becoming am e m b e r, yo u c a n c h e c k t h e f o l l ow i n g
information:
What Is the IAMU
URL: www.iamu-edu.org
I imagine that readers of this newsletter may
E-mail: nakazawa@iamu-edu.org
not be very familiar with the IAMU, so I will
You are always welcome to join our global
give you a brief description of the association.
The IAMU was founded by seven leading network.
maritime universities from five countries in
November 1999, with a shared recognition of WMU’s Commitment to IAMU’s Activities
the significance of maritime education and The World Maritime University was one of the
training in the rapid globalization of interna- seven founding members when the IAMU
tional shipping. The founding members recog- began in 1999. The former President of WMU,
nized the importance of establishing a global Dr. Karl Laubstein, took the chairmanship of the
network of advanced maritime universities to IAMU from 2005 to 2006. In October 2005,
deal with several issues on maritime education WMU hosted the 6th Annual Generaland training, in particular at higher educational Assembly at Malmö Börshus with someinstitutions. Since then, the number of member hundred participants from the international
universities/academies/faculties, so-called insti- maritime community as well as maritime
tutions, has increased with the development of
the association to 56 member institutions fromWorldwide
31 countries as of the beginning of 2013.
Networking of IAMU
Governance of the association is performedby consensus agreed upon by the International
Executive Board, consisting of around 10
selected member institutions, and is represented by the Chairman of the association,
under the basic philosophy of IAMU activities, “Work together”. The activities of theassociation, including research projects proposed and coordinated by the academic staff
at member institutions, are supported by The
Nippon Foundation, based on its long-term

3

MET family and graduates at IMO

universities. Since 2010 the present President of
WMU, Dr. Björn Kjerfve, has undertaken therole of the head of Academic Program Review
Committee, which is responsible for allacademic related activities, such as research andpublications. Having recognized such devoted
contributions, WMU has been appointed as a
special member of the association since 2012.

A Challenging RoleIn April 2013, the International Executive
Board meeting was held in Bucharest, Romania,
and was chaired by Dr. Cornel Panait, theV ice-president of Constanta Maritime
University, which will be the hosting universityof the Annual General Assembly in October
2013. Several items, especially on the basic
policy of the IAMU and nomination of new
IEB members from April 2014, were discussed
and agreed upon as a mutual consensus of the
IEB. The IEB also agreed that the IAMU
should promote external relations with theshipping industry in order to listen to voicesfrom the industry to improve the quality of
MET offered at member institutions.
From April 29 to May 6, I participated in
the STW sub-committee meeting at theheadquarters of IMO, where I met the MET
students of 2013 accompanied by Professor
Cole, one of the MET family at WMU. I also
met many WMU graduates and academic
staff of IAMU member institutions who
participated in the meeting as nationaldelegates f rom their own countr ies. I
recognized once again the importance of ag l o b a l n e t wo rk e s t a b l i s h e d by W M U
graduates and IAMU member institutions.
As a person who belongs to both WMU andthe IAMU, it is really a challenging role.

Maritime Information from Sasakawa Fellows
Introduction of Japan’s Efforts on Ship Recycling Issues through SHIPREC 2013

Yasuhiro Urano(Japan, 2012)

On April 7, 2013, I could fortunately comeback to Malmö just four months after
graduation to attend the International
Conference on Ship Recycling (SHIPREC
2013) hosted by WMU, as one of thepresenters. This fruitful and honorable
opportunity was kindly provided by Prof.
Raphael Baumler, the conference organizer,
who supervised my dissertation on ship
recycling at WMU last year. Taking thisopportunity, I would like to extend mysincere appreciation for his kind invitationand have the highest respect for his excellent
arrangement and coordination of theconference.

With regards to the features andcomprehensive review of the conference, they
can be seen on the WMU official web site.
Thus, in this article, the essence of mypresentation will be specifically and briefly
introduced. The title was “Japan’s efforts onship recycling issues,” and the contents were
mostly based on my dissertation. When you
see this title, most of you might wonder why
Japan is relevant to ship recycling. Ship
recycling issues are to be addressed through aship’s entire lifetime, consisting of shipbuilding,shipping and recycling phases. Since Japan is a
key player in both the shipbuilding andshipping industries, which are closely linked tothe ship recycling industry, Japan is considered
to be highly responsible for addressing theissues related to the recycling phase.
Japan is taking into account three principles
to address ship recycling issues: multistakeholders’ involvement, national andinternational cooperation, and short-term
and medium-/long-term efforts. Major
stakeholders such as class societies, governments, shipbuilding and ship machineryindustries, and other industries are engaging
cooperatively in the ship recycling field. As
short-term efforts before the entry into forceof the Hong Kong Convention, Japan isgoing to: prepare for the national enforcement by developing a system to develop andmanage Inventory of Hazardous Materials(IHMs) and by conducting trial developmentof IHMs for existing and new ships; support
existing ship recycling yards with the intention of international cooperation; anddevelop a new ship recycling method withvarious enhanced technologies. Furthermore,
Japan is making medium- and long-term
eﬀorts based on the “3R” concept of reduce,reuse and recycle, like other industries inJapan. It is hoped that all these efforts will
effectively facilitate reform in the ship recycling industry.
Following my recent experiences with ship
recycling, my company (Japan Ship
Technology Research Association) and the
Maritime Bureau, MLIT (Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), haverecently given me the great opportunity tojoin international discussions on ship
recycling at IMO. I hope my involvement inthis field as part of Japan’s efforts willcontribute to the early entry into force of theHong Kong Convention and the subsequentachievement of safer and greener ship
recycling all over the world.

WMU Minds in Jamaica towards Caribbean Development

Recently, in Jamaica, it was a pleasure to meet
the Secretary General of the International
Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Koji
Sekimizu, who is also Chancellor of the World
Maritime University (WMU).
Mr. Sekimizu was part of an IMO
delegation attending an IMO Senior Marine
Administrators’ (SMA) meeting and HighLevel Symposium (HLS) of Ministers ofTransport in the Caribbean from February
19-22. The meetings were hosted by the
Maritime Authority of Jamaica to look atinternational maritime developments and their
institutionalization in the Caribbean region.
At a welcome reception hosted by Jamaica’s
Minister of Transport, Works and Housing,

the following issues of critical importance toCaribbean States:• Voluntary IMO Member State Audit
Scheme (VIMSAS). This scheme which will
become mandatory in the near future, wasinstituted by IMO to ensure that States are
giving full and complete effect to the provisionsof its major Conventions.
• Environmental issues in the Caribbean
region, such as giving full and complete effectto the MARPOL Convention. Of note is thaton May 1, 2011 the Special Area Status for theWider Caribbean Region came into effect for
MARPOL Annex V – Garbage - which sets
standards for disposal of ship-generated garbage
towards the prevention of pollution from thissource.
• Other international issues of concern such as
Dr. Hon. Omar Davies, Mr. Sekimizu and I Piracy; Ballast Water Management, and,spoke briefly, but fondly, of my time at WMU although not an IMO convention, theand the field trip to Japan in 2007, as well as the International Labour Organization’s Maritime
staff of the OPRF and the administrators of the Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, commonly
called the Seafarers’ Bill of Rights, which is now
Sasakawa Fellowship.
Mr. Sekimizu spent a day in the capital of seen as the 4th Pillar (complementing the
Jamaica, Kingston, where he met government I M O ’ s 3 m a j o r C o n v e n t i o n s ) i n t h eministers and Jamaican graduates of the international maritime regulatory regime.
Mr. Sekimizu addressed the group on “TheWMU. He then went on to Montego Bay,known as the second capital, where the meeting Institutionalization of the Voluntary IMO
was held. There he met other graduates from Member State Audit Scheme (VIMSAS)”.
Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean Region, who Three countries in the region so far, including
were all holding senior positions in their Jamaica, have been audited, and others at therespective organizations and making valuable meeting have indicated their intentions to doso. Participants from some 20 countries acrosscontributions to the maritime industry.
Among other things, the meeting discussed the Caribbean Region attended the meeting.

4Maritime Information from Sasakawa Fellows
Maritime Law of Wrecks

Rajesh Mittal(India, 2011)

1. A wreck, in simple terms, is defined as theremains of a ship that has been wrecked. The
causes of shipwreck typically include poor
design of ships, construction material,
improperly stowed cargo, fire, bad weather,error in navigation, and other human errors
leading to collisions and groundings. Over a
period of time this definition has been
improved but still remains complex. In legal
terms, wrecks may be of two types - wreccum
maris (material washed ashore after a
shipwreck) and adventurae maris (material stillat sea)1 . For example, a closer scrutiny of the
Indian Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 reveals
that the term ‘vessel’, under the Act includes
any ship, boat, sailing vessel or other descriptionof vessel used in navigation [Part I, Sec.3 (55)]and the definition of wreck under the Act [PartI, Sec.3 (58)] as that which has been abandoned
without hope or intention of recovery. Thus thet w o d e fi n i t i o n s p u t t o g e t h e r m a k e
abandonment a prerequisite for a vessel to betreated as a wreck. Similarly, the use of terms
such as ‘sea’ , ‘tidal waters’ , ‘coast’, ‘shores’ todenote the territorial limits wherein a wreck can
be situated seems to add an altogether different
dimension. The usage of different terminologies
may create confusion while adjudicating cases
and may afford enough latitude to the parties
involved to manipulate the case in their favor.
This is a puzzle with serious outcomes, as wasrecently witnessed in the incident leading to thecapsizing of the vessel MV Maria along thesouthern coast of India near the Port of
Cochin, close to an international shipping
channel.
2. The law of wrecks is inherently intertwinedwith the law of salvage. The Brussels
Convention for the Unification of Certain
Rules of Law Relating to Assistance andSalvage at Sea, 1910, under the aegis of IMO,
tried to unify the principles on the law ofsalvage and was later amended by the Brussels
Convention on Salvage of Aircraft, 1938. By
April 28, 1989, the new Salvage Convention,
1989 was concluded due to the initiatives of the
CMI（Comite Maritime International）andcame into force internationally on July 14,
1996. The three main elements enshrined in thesalvage regime are ‘danger’2, ‘voluntary act’3, and‘success’, for there to be a salvage award4.

3. The international maritime law of salvage
appears to be fragmented. In some legal systems
wrecks are often considered separate from theircargo5 . The Convention on the Removal of
Wrecks, 2007 provides a detailed frameworkboth in terms of necessary statutes andadministrative requirements in order to deal
with the problems posed by wrecks. More so, it
provides States with the right of direct action
against insurers. It therefore is opined that theConvention operates as a cohesive instrument
and is expected to fill the legal vacuum ininternational maritime law in order to protect afragile natural environment.
1. For example, under English law wreccum maris
were dealt with under rules relating to things found on
land and adventurae maris were dealt with under theAdmiralty jurisdiction.
2. See, The Phantom (1866) LR 1 A & B 58, P 60,
The Charlotte (1848) 3 W Rob 68,
The Helenus (1582) 2 Lloyd’s Rep 261.
3. See, The Sava Star (1995) 2 Lloyd’ Rep 134.
The Neptune (1824) 1 Hagg 227.
4. See The Cheerful (1855) 11 PD 3,
The Melaine v The San Onofre (1925) AC 246,
The Killeena (1881) 6 PD 193.
5. The Lusitania [1986] QB 384.

Kenya Ports Authority; Development and Challenges

Elsie Bikondo(Kenya, 2012)

Fiona Mbandi(Kenya, 2013)

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is responsible formanaging the port of Mombasa, which is thegateway to East and Central Africa and is oneof the busiest ports along the East African
coastline. The port handles all the maritime
traffic for the Kenyan domestic market and forthe landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda,
Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic ofCongo, Northern Tanzania, Southern Sudan,
Somalia and Ethiopia.
KPA has experienced tremendous growth
as a result of handling imports and exports ofgoods. For example KPA handled 20 million
tons of cargo in 2011. The trend is envisaged
to continue in the future. The growth rate has
motivated KPA to embark on elaborate
programs aimed at expanding its berthingfacilities and also transforming port
operations to world class standards.
To this effect, KPA is undertaking thefollowing various programs at the port ofMombasa:

i. Dredging of Kilindini channel to allow
berthing of post Panama vessels (15.0 meters
for inner channel & 17.5 meters for outerchannel)ii. Construction of berth No. 19, whichbegan in March 2011 ended in 2012 - 2013
iii. Construction of second container
terminal to handle the latest generation ofcontainer ships with a depth of 15.0 meters.
The construction began in March 2012 &will end in February 2016
iv. Expansion and upgrading of theInformation and Communication
Technology (ICT) systems. 80% of port
operations are now computerized, hence
reduced average dwell time for containers
from 11 to 5.8 days and also increased
revenue to 30%
However, in spite of KPA’s top agenda to
improve efficiency and productivity, the portof Mombasa is experiencing bottlenecks thatare detrimental to maritime trade. Areas
affecting the port’s performance internallyare:i. Dockside congestion and high dwell timeii. Inadequate integrated rail and road links
affecting trade facilitationiii. Management of port operations
The completion of the above-mentioned
projects are envisioned to reduce bottlenecks
and consequently enable KPA to efficiently
handle huge increases in cargo throughput in

5

Lamu

Mombasa

MAP OF KENYA

the future, which will ultimately enhancemaritime trade in Kenya and the region as
well. Additional future development plans
being undertaken by KPA include theconstruction of a new mega port at Lamu,north of Kenya, and an e-port for enabling
access of cargo data through a single interface
by stakeholders.
These developments will further ensure
adequate delivery of quality cost effective
services and help KPA maintain its relevancein facilitating maritime trade.

On-site Visit to Fellows' Work Places

As one of the objectives of the WMU
Sasakawa Fellowship Program, ourorganization, the Ocean Policy Research
Foundation (OPRF), considers that it is verysignificant to strengthen the Sasakawa Fellows’global network; therefore, this time, three
representatives from OPRF, Eisuke Kudo, Eiji
Sakai, and Shinichi Ichikawa, visited
Mombasa, Kenya, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
and Accra, Ghana in order to visit local
maritime facilities - some of which had Fellows
working there - and we were successful inbringing awareness of the WMU Sasakawa
Fellowship Program to a wide range of people
in maritime affairs.
Our first stop was in Mombasa, Kenya. Mr.
Stephen Mwamure Toya (2002), Mr. Samwel
Kipkosgei Kiptoo (2003) and Ms. Elsie
Nyabonyi Bikondo (2012) came to our hotel tomeet us. All of them work at Kenya Ports
Authority (KPA) and communicate frequently
with each other.
On the 18th of February, we visited the
Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA). KMA wasestablished in 2004 in order to strengthen theirmaritime administrations. We met with its
Director General, Ms. Nancy W. Karigithu,
who also serves as a board member for WMU.
She recognized the benefits of the Program andshe wished this mutually positive relationshipwould continue in the future.

Kenya

Ghana

Friends of WMU, Japan Secretariat
OPRF

Tanzania

After leaving KMA, we drove to our next
destination, the Mombasa Regional Maritime
Rescue Coordination Center (RMRCC) andKPA that share the same premises. At
RMRCC, Mr. John Churchill Omondi
explained their monitoring system for ships andharbor facilities. At KPA, Mr. Salim J.
Chingabwi, the general manger of humanresources and administration, gave a welcoming
address, and we thanked him for his warm
welcome. It was very kind of him to make anarrangement for us to meet Mr. Musa Hassan
Musa (2000) who currently holds the positionof the managing director at Kenya Ferry
Services, Ltd.
Our last meeting for the day was at the Kenya
Police. Because as of yet there have been no
Fellows from the Kenya Police, we explained to
Mr. Stanley K. Lamai about our Fellowship
Program and its application process. We asked
him to utilize our Program as one of their

6

personnel development tools.
On the 19th, we met with four TanzanianFellows: Ms. Stella Joshua Katondo (2001),
Mr. Edward Sylvester Mabula (2003), Ms.
Tumaini Shabani Gurumo (2007), and Mr.
Hassan Mrisho Kheri (2008) at our hotel in theevening and talked over their network activities.
On the 20th, we visited TPA where Ms.
Katondo and Mr. Mabula were working. The
Director General, Eng. Madeni Kipande, gave
a welcoming address and expressed his
appreciation for OPRF supporting
capacity-building of maritime affairs in
Tanzania.
On the 21st, our first destination was the Dar
es Salaam Maritime Institute, where one
Tanzanian Sasakawa Fellow, Mr. Yassin
Magongo Songoro (2000), works as Ag.
Principal. Ms. Gurumo is a lecturer there also.
There were students from outside Tanzania as
well: from Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, theCaribbean and Uganda. We got a tour of theschool, looking at their facilities and classroom
sessions.
Afterwards, we visited the Surface and Marine
Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA)
and talked with the Director General, Mr.
Ahmad S. K. Kilima. We explained about the
Sasakawa Fellowship Program and its
application process and told them about ourintention to assist their global leadershipdevelopment.
And our final visit for the day was the
Tanzania People’s Defense Force where Mr.
Kheri was working. Mr. Maj Gen FA
Mohamed, Chief of Operations and Training
gave us a very nice welcome speech, and hetalked about recent piracy problems and shared
his intention to continue capacity-building of

the organization.
That evening, Tanzania Fellows invited us todinner, which was another great evening for us.
On the 22nd, when we arrived at Accra in theafternoon, one of the Ghanaian Fellows, Ms.
Nana Esi Quansah (2008) was waiting for us
and took us to Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority, where she works. We were greetedby the General Manager, Administration, Mr.
Abraham Mensah and the Marketing & Public
Affairs Manager, Mr. Paul Asare Ansah. They
explained to us about their Authority and Tema
Port. Afterwards, we got an actual tour of their
massive port. We were impressed with howbusy it was, as the port is one of the two largest
in Ghana.
On Saturday the 23rd, even though Regional
Maritime University Ghana (RMU) was
closed, the dean of Faculty of Maritime Studies,Dr. Michael Ekow Manuel kindly gave us atour of the campus, assisted by two Sasakawa
Fellows, Ms. Catherine Haizel (2002) and Mr.
Dallas Eric Laryea (2011). We were impressedwith their establishment, which has asimulation room, on-campus dormitories, andan ocean survival training facility.
Afterwards, on our way back to the hotel, we
made a stop at Mr. Laryea’s workplace. He
used to work at RMU but now is the IMO
Regional Coordinator for West and Central
Africa.
That evening, we met up with Ghanaian
Fellows, Ms. Patience Amoabeng Peprah(1999), Ms. Haizel, Ms. Quansah, and Mr.

Laryea to talk about the possibility for holding a
regional meeting in Africa in the near future.
Lastly, although our visit to these three
countries was short and limited, it was great tosee Sasakawa Fellows’ contributions to theircountries. We send our sincere appreciation to
all those who helped us with this African
mission but weren’t mentioned in this article.
We hereby pledge to continue our efforts to
expand and strengthen the WMU Sasakawa
Fellows’ global network.

About the IMO Regional Coordinator
for West and Central Africa
Dallas Eric Laryea（Ghana, 2011）

Introduction

I am Dallas Eric Laryea (Capt.), a Ghanaian
and an alumnus of WMU, Class of 2011,
specializing in MSc. Maritime Safety andEnvironmental Administration, as well as aproud Sasakawa Fellow.
On November 1, 2012, I was hired as the
IMO Regional Co-ordinator for West andCentral Africa (English speaking). Prior tothis appointment I had served as a lecturer
and later as Acting Head of the Maritime
Safety Department at the Regional Maritime
University, in Accra, Ghana. I have 11 yearsof sea service, having risen through the ranks
from a deck cadet to a Master.
Hoping to assist countries in various regions
to meet their implementation obligations,
IMO has established 5 Regional Presence
Offices: East and Southern Africa - (Nairobi,
Kenya); West and Central Africa (English
speaking) – (Accra, Ghana); West andCentral Africa (French speaking) – (Abidjan,
Cote d’Ivoire); East Asia – (Manila,
Philippines); Caribbean – (Port of Spain,T r i n i d a d & T o b a g o ) . Th e i r a i m i s t oobjectively facilitate IMO’s input into

national and regional development policies
and to provide active field-level participationin the formulation and execution of IMO's
Integrated Technical Co-operation
Programme (ITCP).

Background

ITCP helps developing countries improve Some Regional Terms of Reference
their ability to comply with international
1. Identify maritime needs and priorities
rules and maritime safety and the prevention
in conjunction with relevant countries
and control of maritime pollution, giving
for integration into the ITCP.
priority to technical assistance programmes
2. Plan, coordinate and ensure the delivery
that focus on human resources developmentof IMO’s integrated programmes.
and institutional capacity building. In
3. Promote IMO’s technical competence,
February and May 1999, IMO launched aexperience and comparative advantage.
pilot scheme to promote its regional presence
4. Identify potential funding sources.
by opening 2 Regional Presence Offices in
5. Represent IMO as directed, at national,
Kenya and Ghana respectively.
regional and international meetings andconferences, to advise on relevant
aspects of IMO’s work.
Countries under the Accra Regional
6. Provide information for inclusion in
Presence Office
There are 9 countries under the Accra-Ghana
documents on matters related to
Regional Presence Office: Cape Verde,
technical cooperation for presentation
Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea
to the Assembly, Council, andBissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sao Tome andTechnical Cooperation Committee,
Principe, and Sierra Leone.
etc.

7Happy Wedding
Yasuhiro Okamoto (Japan, 2009)
It is my great pleasure to inform my dear friends
scattered all over the world of a very precious event in mylife. I also sincerely want to thank OPRF who gave me
this opportunity. I was fortunate to find the person that I
will share everything with, including my entire life.
As some friends already know, we had our wedding
ceremony in Okinawa, an island in the south of Japan
where the climate is almost always tropical, even on
Feb 25, 2013. The ceremony itself was very small,attended only by our families and other relatives andwas very warm and cheerful.
I received many messages from Sasakawa Fellows,
thanks to Mr. Emi’s great help. I treasure these, and I
feel so proud of my time in Malmö, under the big roof

of Henrik Smith Hostel, feeling my everlasting
friendship with my dear fellow students grow.
Additionally, many friends sent me messages throughFacebook, and I want to say thank you again. My
friends are so knowledgeable and experienced, so I was
blessed with congratulations as well as very usefuladvice. Right now there is only happiness and goodtimes, but I know that in the future, problems and badluck will occur. Since I’m new to being a family man,
I’d like to count on all you veterans to keep giving me
advice on how to avoid and overcome those problems.
Lastly, I’m now working in Tokyo, so if you come by
for work or for fun, please tell me. I always look forward
to meeting you anytime.

Phung Trong Hieu (Vietnam, 2008)

Finally.
Since I was born in 1977, some people may think
I’m still too young to start my own family. Those
who think so probably know me as an outgoing,liberal guy. However, over a year ago, quite byaccident, I met a woman who changed my life, in a
big way. Although I have to admit I do miss the
freedom of bachelorhood, at the same time, I feelincredibly happy and thrilled to say that finally... yes,

finally, I have a family of my own. Among myfriends in my hometown I’m almost the last one togive up the single life, but I have to say I feel very
lucky to have such a wonderful woman take away myfreedom. Yes, finally… I’m married, and I am sitting
here, writing to all you Fellows about this big eventin my life, to share with you my boundless joy. Hopeto see you all one day soon.

New Member of the Family
Fumi Yakabe (Japan, 2004)

Our new baby girl arrived on July 21, 2012. The date ofher birth is usually the start of the summer holiday inJapan. That gave us two reasons to celebrate such a
happy day. We chose the name Kaho, which consists of
two Chinese characters: “summer” and “ear of plant”.
The second character is associated with the history andmeaning of the month of July in the lunar calendar andsymbolises the harvest and nature’s bounty. In arice-eating culture it actually reminds us of rice ripening
in beautiful fields in a natural setting, so I like thischaracter very much.

This photo was taken 1 month after the birth, inside a
Shinto shrine near our house. According to thedictionary, Omiyamairi, literally "shrine visit", is a
traditional Shinto rite of passage in Japan for newborns,
expressing gratitude to the deities for the birth of a baby,
as a priest prays for her health and happiness. We all
dressed up and enjoyed the first formal going-out for
Kaho.
I returned to the National Maritime ResearchInstitute in May and have slowly started joining in someresearch projects in maritime safety.

Yukinori Matsui (Japan, 2007)

This is Nori from Japan, MLP 2007. I was transferredto the Japan Coast Guard Academy(JCGA) thisApril. My new task is to make young cadets moreinternational. I’ll try hard to help them by sharing myexperiences.
Anyway, I have more important news for you alltoday. Do you remember I previously reported inthis newsletter that I had met an angel 3 years ago?
Last August, another angel came to make us evenhappier! I and Chie, my first angel, named our
second angel "Sae". She is sooooo cute and smart
like Chie, and I promise I will do everything I canto always make them smile.
Now, on to my next two missions: educate my
new angel to be the happiest princess, and, train
JCGA cadets to be good officers. I really regret nothaving selected Maritime Education and Training
at WMU!

Editor’s note

resident professors, who were residents in Malmö since theestablishment of WMU in 1983 and contributed significantly to ourThis year 23 Sasakawa Fellows visited Japan for the Japan Field Study Trip. efforts. They have been transferred and are no longer in Malmö. In the
Among the Fellows were three students of the MET course whom I had future, therefore, we must redouble our efforts including ourpreviously had the opportunity to meet at the STW44 session hosted by the dissemination of news and information from Japan.
International Maritime Organization in London. It is very encouraging to During their study trip in Japan, the visiting students learned about thesee many WMU graduates and Sasakawa Fellowship students play an active Japanese maritime industry and culture as they traveled from Tokyo allrole in representing their countries on the international stage in discussions the way to Kyushu, and I am sure that they took back many memorable
on issues concerning seafarers. When I see them making statements in such experiences to their home countries.
a dignified manner, I cannot help but feel a strong sense of confidence in I happened to accompany the students on their training in Kyoto andthem.
when I saw the look of satisfaction on their faces at the farewell party, I
I strongly believe that the ongoing activities and networking of our felt an even stronger bond and sense of unity with them. This made meorganization including the publishing of this newsletter and the holding feel all the more confident that the Sasakawa network will continue toof reunions by the Sasakawa Fellowship students in various countries are grow more and more in the future.
definitely producing results.
Prof. Toshio Hikima
On the other hand, we will certainly miss the presence of the JapaneseMarine Technical College

Mr. Masashi Sugomori

Toranomon 35 Mori Building, 3-4-10 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 JAPAN
Tel: +81-(0)3-5404-6843 Fax: +81-(0)3-5404-6800 URL: http://www.sof.or.jp/