26 July - 1 August 2001

MMA to invest heavily in IT

by Ivan Brincat

The Malta Maritime Authority is presently working on a Maritime Transport Action Plan.
The action plan will include the introduction of subsidiary legislation, institutional changes, investment in Information Technology and human resources and should be completed by the end of next year.
The chairman of the Malta Maritime Authority Marc Bonello told The Malta Business Weekly that the action plan includes an overhaul of the IT system.
“We are going to make a huge investment in IT and information systems and will make use of web-based applications so that the 100 inspectors we have based in different ports around the world will be able to tackle problems at source without wasting any time,” Dr Bonello said.
In all, the Malta Maritime Authority has over 100 inspectors in various ports. “With the software we will have we can create various reports based on various trends linked to the quality and reputation of the ship-owner, the number of incidents per classification society.”
Dr Bonello said this system would allow for different analyses and the Malta Maritime Authority will have a number of analysts making efficient use of the resources.
The Action Plan will be in place by 2002. The chairman of the Malta Maritime Authority said that the intention is to put the Maltese fleet, which is the fourth largest in the world, on a sound basis and strengthen its operations. “We want to attract quality to our flag.”
Last year, the Malta Maritime Authority refused entry or removed from its register 1.5 million tonnes for quality reasons. This tonnage is equivalent five per cent of the fleet. “We still retained the same tonnage because we managed to attract new vessels to our flag.”
Dr Bonello said the MMA was committed to improving quality all round adding that when Malta joins the European Union, it would be the largest EU flag-State.
As part of the Action Plan, the Maritime Institute has also been set up. “We want the Institute to be a regional centre of excellence for the Mediterranean and to be able to compete with institutes in Greece,” he said.