MAJ expands maritime sustainability awareness among emerging legal professionals

With Jamaica importing almost everything it consumes by sea, an unsafe or environmentally damaging shipping industry would have disruptive effects on the economy, public services, coastal communities, and the marine environment on which the country depends.

That was the central message delivered by Bertrand Smith, director general of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), to students and faculty at the Norman Manley Law School on March 3. Smith was among the guest speakers at the institution's Legal Aid Fair, where he presented on the sustainability of shipping and maritime activities.

Smith opened by establishing the critical role shipping plays in Jamaica's economic life. "Shipping is important to the economic development of Jamaica, providing our energy, basic commodities, transportation and raw materials needs," he said. "A sustainable shipping industry is necessary to ensure that trade moves safely and predictably, that decent work and human rights at sea are secured, and that there is no negative impact on the marine environment and climate."

Sustainability in the maritime sector, Smith told the audience, rests on three concrete requirements: preventing and controlling pollution and climate impacts, keeping trade moving safely and predictably, and securing decent work and human rights at sea. These, he noted, are not aspirational goals but binding obligations on Jamaica as a member of the international community and as a state whose ports, waters, and registered vessels are subject to international scrutiny.

Meeting those obligations, Smith argued, requires an internationally regulated framework. No single country can achieve it alone. The maritime industry operates across borders on a massive scale, and the risks it presents to safety, security, trade, and the marine environment can have immediate international consequences. That is why the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) exists: as the competent agency responsible for setting the standards that govern sustainable shipping worldwide. To date, the IMO has produced more than 50 international instruments regulating the safety and environmental performance of over 58,000 merchant ships, vessels that collectively carry approximately 90 per cent of global trade by volume.

Four conventions, Smith explained, form the pillars of that framework. SOLAS, the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea, emerged from the tragedy of the SS Titanic and governs ship safety. MARPOL, the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, was adopted in the wake of the environmental catastrophe caused by the grounding of the MV Torrey Canyon. STCW sets the training and certification standards for everyone who works at sea. And the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006, which Smith described as the Seafarers' Bill of Rights, establishes the minimum standards for the living and working conditions of the world's seafarers.

Beyond those four pillars, he pointed to other treaties with direct relevance to Jamaica. The OPRC Convention of 1990 provides a framework for responding to oil pollution incidents, a concern the region knows well following the 2024 Tobago oil spill that spread into Grenada's waters and threatened Venezuela. The Civil Liability Convention and Fund Convention of 1992 address liability and compensation for oil pollution damage. And the Ballast Water Management Convention of 2004 targets the transfer of alien invasive species through ships' ballast water, a documented threat to Jamaica's marine biodiversity.

Adopting these treaties, Smith stressed, is not sufficient. Sustainability can only be achieved through their effective implementation, and that is where the MAJ comes in.

As Jamaica's focal point for both the IMO and the International Labour Organization, the MAJ is the statutory body charged with translating those international obligations into domestic law and practice. Smith outlined a broad mandate that covers everything from the registration of ships and the certification of seafarers to the inspection of foreign vessels for compliance with safety, security, and pollution-prevention requirements. The Authority also oversees wreck administration, monitors salvage operations, and conducts marine casualty investigations. On the legislative side, the Shipping Act of 1998, the Ballast Water Management Act of 2018, and the Shipping (Amendment) Act of 2020 represent that progress.

That work, however, cannot rest with the MAJ alone, Smith told the students. Effective implementation requires interagency collaboration, he argued, as well as advocacy on the part of the legal community.

For Jamaica, Smith concluded, the stakes are clear. “As an island state with an open economy, the country requires a sustainable maritime transportation system to underpin its ambitions for economic growth and development. That will demand not only policies, ratification of treaties, and legislation, but effective implementation of Jamaica's flag, port, and coastal responsibilities through interagency cooperation and advocacy,” Smith concluded.

Caption: Bertrand Smith, director general of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica speaking to students at the Norman Manley Law School about the sustainability of shipping and maritime activities.