Lt Col Ciseau is also chairman of the South Asia and Africa Regional Port Stability Cooperative (Saarpsco), and the mission was organised by its new president and chief executive Hans Niebergall, a German international maritime attorney and business consultant.

Saarpsco, which recently registered its headquarters in Seychelles, is an initiative started in 2008 by the United States Coast Guard in close partnership with concerned South Asian and African nations.

Its aims include combating piracy, enforcing lawful fishing practices, creating sophisticated vessel tracking systems for more effective monitoring and management, promoting international maritime communications and peaceful maritime trade and commerce, as well as preserving the Indian Ocean’s environment.

Saarpsco will also put its weight behind efforts to realise an international maritime academy in Seychelles for the advanced training and development of the sector, given its clear potential in view of its strategic location, deep and safe port, and the willpower of the stakeholders consulted.

A new body to be known as the Seychelles International Maritime Centre will also be set up to support foreign maritime companies that intend to open offices in Seychelles to expand maritime services on offer from Port Victoria and realise the aim of turning the country into the maritime hub of the Indian Ocean

At Hapag Lloyd Cruises – the world’s premier cruise line with the only 5+ star ship in the world – Mr Sinon, Lt Col Ciseau and Mr Niebergall met Sebastian Ahrens, its managing director, who has agreed to serve on the Saarpsco board of directors.

Mr Ahrens congratulated Lt Col Ciseau on the fact that Port Victoria has been voted the leading cruise port in the Indian Ocean for 2010, winning a prestigious World Travel Award.

Lt Col Ciseau pledged his personal support to Hapag Lloyd for the successful return of cruise ships to Port Victoria later this month, and its related strategy and operations in the Western Indian Ocean.

Mr Sinon and Lt Col Ciseau also discussed the possibility of a more frequent, if not permanent, presence of Hapag Lloyd in Seychelles.

Vessel Tracker – a global terrestrial automatic identification system company that monitors the position, course and speed of a ship – has committed itself to setting up its “own presence in Seychelles for operations in the Indian Ocean region” after a meeting Mr Sinon and Lt Col Ciseau had with its managing director Carsten Bullemer.

Germanischer Lloyd, with a global network of 7,000 employees in 80 countries and 208 stations, offering assurance, consulting and classification for the maritime and energy industries, may add another important station for the Indian Ocean region in Seychelles.

And Lloyd’s Register, a 250-year-old London-based risk management group, said it would help efforts to set up the proposed maritime academy in Seychelles, which would harness the  potential of Seychelles as a maritime nation by enhancing the quality of training for young people. 

Mr Sinon, Lt Col Ciseau and Mr Niebergall also had a successful meeting with OHB System AG – a mid-sized German space technology company specialising in low-orbit and geostationary small satellites for scientific research, communications and earth observation.

The mission ended with a meeting of top officers of the coast guard in Hambury and a boat tour of Europe’s third largest port.

 

Forrás: http://www.nation.sc/