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CMOU Press Release

DWIGHT GARDINER RE ELECTED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE CARIBBEAN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING OF UNDER STANDING ON PORT STATE CONTROL (CMOU) COMMITTEE

 

After serving five years as Vice Chairman of the Caribbean Port State Control Committee and interim Chairman for one year, at the organization’s 14th annual meeting, Mr. Dwight C. R. Gardiner of Antigua and Barbuda was elected Chairman of the prestigious Committee. The Organization was established pursuant to the Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Port State Control and is just one of nine global port State control regimes which monitor the world’s oceans.

At this year’s 17th annual meeting which was held in St. Kitts and Nevis from July 16 – 19, 2012, Mr. Gardiner was unanimously re-elected to serve as Chairman of the Caribbean Port State Control Committee (CPSCC) for another period of three years. This year’s meeting included representatives from 13 of the 15 member States along with two observer States.

 

Mr. Gardiner has been involved in the maritime sector for over thirty years and is the Director and Registrar General of the Antigua and Barbuda Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping and the Antigua and Barbuda Ship and Yacht Registry.  He is an attorney at Law, a Notary Public and a Captain in the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force Coast Guard (Reserve).  He is also the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

During his tenure as Chairman of the CPSCC, he visited all the Member and Observer States with a view to assisting in the development of the regional maritime industry.  Under his Chairmanship the CMOU experienced:

  • growth from twelve member States to fifteen
  • successfully held four PSC seminars for Port State Control Officers (PSCO) in the region
  • the development of a new PSCO manual
  • a revision of the Caribbean MOU and Rules of Procedure of the MOU.

Hon. Dr. Winston Baldwin Spencer the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda recognized Mr. Gardiner’s sterling contribution to the national, regional and international industry and took the time to pen a letter to him in which he listed his various achievements and expressed his ‘heartfelt gratitude to your for the exemplary service rendered.’  He noted that Mr. Gardiner was ‘pivotal in the transformation of the Department into a world class maritime administration….’

The Caribbean Memorandum of Understanding (CMOU) on Port State Control is an agreement between fifteen Caribbean States to achieve uniformity with respect to rules and standards relating the maritime safety and security and the prevention of maritime pollution by ships.  The primary means of enforcing these international standards is by the inspection of foreign ships in national ports in order to verify that the ship is properly certified and is in compliance with the national, regional and international maritime requirements.  This process is known as ‘port State control’.

The Caribbean Port State Control Committee consists of fifteen member States: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.  In addition to the member States there are nine observer States: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Dominica, France, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Turks and Caicos. The Secretariat of the Organization is based in Jamaica while its information center known as the Caribbean Maritime Information Centre (CMIC) is located in Suriname.