Today, the institution of port control of ships has acquired a truly global scale. Almost every region has its own agreements to ensure such control. In the Mediterranean, this is the Mediterranean Memorandum, in the North Atlantic - the Paris Memorandum, in the Asia-Pacific region - the Tokyo Memorandum... And Central America is no exception here. The Caribbean MoU (simply CMOU) is in force in the region.

History of the memorandum

The Caribbean Memorandum was signed in Barbados, in Christ Church County, on February 9, 1996. Nine states became signatories - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. It should be noted that this event was preceded by many years of discussion and research. And, of course, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) played a significant role in the preparation of the memorandum.

The executive body of the CMOU is the Caribbean Committee of State Port Control (CPSC). It is known that his first leader was Lieutenant Commander Curtis Roach from Trinidad and Tobago. And the position of Secretary General of CMOU was held by Valerie Brown, Director of Maritime Affairs of Barbados. The Caribbean MOU secretariat was located on this island until 2002. However, it was then moved to Jamaica.

Of course, today there are much more participants in the Caribbean Memorandum than nine. In particular, this is due to the fact that a country such as the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist in October 2010. Its dissolution led to the emergence of two new self-governing states with significant autonomy - Curacao and Sint Martin. Both of them became members of the memorandum. Also joining Caribbean MoU so far are Aruba, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, France, the Netherlands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The presence of European countries on the list should not be misleading: both France and the Netherlands in the Caribbean have overseas territories and communities.

Two more public entities - Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands - are considered associate members of the memorandum. In addition, there are a number of states that are in the status of observers and have already declared their readiness to become full-fledged parties to the agreement. This means that it is highly likely that the membership of CMOU will continue to grow in the coming years.

Memo Website

Official website of the Caribbean Memorandum - https://caribbeanmou.org. There are all the necessary contacts here - phone, fax, actual address, e-mail. There is also a special section on the site where you can see data on recent checks and detentions.

For each check, very detailed information is given here. Among other things, anyone can see information about the vessels being checked - flag, name, type, gross tonnage, year of construction, class... Also here you can clarify in the port of which country this or that ship was examined and what kind of malfunctions were identified during the inspection. The decision made here is also indicated (for example, the inspector may oblige to eliminate shortcomings in the next port). If the vessel is delayed as a result of the inspection, it is also displayed.

Of course, on the official web portal you can also find information about the current secretariat of the Caribbean Memorandum. The Secretary General today is Jody Barrow. It is she who represents CMOU at various events. And the duties of an administrative assistant are performed by Dionne Thaxter.

The main function of the secretariat is to carry out daily administrative activities within the framework of the memorandum. In fact, this is a link that facilitates the exchange of information between the parties to the agreement, IMO and other similar structures. In addition, the secretariat is responsible for organizing all CMOU workshops and workshops.

There is also up-to-date information on the CPSC guide on the site. Since 2018, the chairman of this body is Michel Amafo from Suriname, and the vice-chairman is Joel Walton from the Cayman Islands.

Important features of CMOU

The activities of CMOU are guided by international maritime law, as well as the principles set out directly in the memorandum. The main emphasis is on ensuring the compliance of ships with standards in such areas as the safety of human life at sea, the prevention of pollution of the marine environment, working and living conditions on the sides of ships. Plus, CMOU inspectors are engaged in checking the certificates and qualifications of sailors.

States parties to the memorandum undertake to inspect 15% of ships calling at their ports. This is relevant, including for ships flying the flags of countries located outside the Caribbean region. Annual reports are published, which record the number of inspections and their results. And, for example, in 2018, according to such a report, a total of 635 inspections were carried out. At the same time, 1,146 shortcomings were found, and the number of court arrests was 11. It is also known that 17.12% of the shortcomings of the total number of identified were associated with non-compliance with fire safety measures. In second place in terms of frequency were shortcomings regarding ship documentation - 13.66%.

And, for example, in 2019, CMOU member states conducted 782 inspections on ships registered under 52 flags (this is 23% more than in 2018). Most inspections were carried out by such a country as the Netherlands - 215. Immediately behind it is the island state of Trinidad and Tobago - it conducted about 143 inspections. But, of course, there were countries that were much less active. Let's say in St. Kitts and Nevis in the same 2019 there was only 1 registered check.

It should also be added that within the framework of the memorandum, some work is underway to improve international maritime law. In particular, especially for ships of non-standard size (and in the Caribbean region for a number of reasons there are quite a lot of such ships), two new safety codes were developed - CCSS and SCV.

The Office Centre Building

2nd Floor, 12 Ocean Boulevard, Kingston, Jamaica, W.I.

(876) 967-1077

(876) 922-5765

secretariat@caribbeanmou.org