Chief Justice Georgina Wood launches book on maritime law and trade

The Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood, has launched a book on maritime law and trade with a call on lawyers and judges to make judicious use of it in order to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the legalities in the maritime industry.

The book, Admiral- a Compendium, is a compilation of the papers presented at the annual Maritime Law Seminars for Judges of the Superior Courts of Ghana organised for the past 10 years by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority in collaboration with the Judicial Training Institute.

Her Ladyship Wood in launching The Admiral-a Compendium, on Thursday May 18, 2017 in Accra which she described as a “treasure jewellery”, commended the Shippers’ Authority for putting the book together and said it will not only be useful to judges and lawyers in addressing trade and transport disputes but also to academicians , local experts , students and researchers for varied purposes. The Chief Justice who will soon go on retirement this year, described her relationship with the Authority as “a long standing and fruitful partnership enjoyed over the years on both professional and personal levels.” In order for the judiciary to appropriately respond to the exigencies in international maritime law and trade, she called for the restructuring of courses at the Faculty of Law to reflect the dynamics as the way forward in building the human capacity of the courts in deepening judicial knowledge on maritime affairs. In a welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Dr Kofi Mbiah, on behalf of his outfit expressed his gratitude to the Chief Justice, the Judicial Training Institute, lords and lady justices for having kept faith with them in the series of maritime law seminars organised over the decade.

Dr Mbiah revealed that the compendium has been arranged under specific topics for the purposes of order, easy comprehension, research and also divided into nine parts with 38 chapters and covers topics such as Admiralty Jurisdiction and Practice, the Carriage of Goods by Sea, Marine insurance and Oil and Gas Law.

The immediate past Legal Committee head of the International Maritime Organization in giving further details on the compendium said aspects of Public International Law, the Sale and Purchase of Ships and Maritime Boundary Delimitation have also been covered.

“While these topics do not by any stretch of imagination cover all aspects of maritime law, they nevertheless touch on key topics of relevance essential for the development of our maritime law jurisprudence”, he stressed.

Dr Mbiah noted that the publication of the compendium is yet another testament of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority’s commitment to delivering on its foremost objective of promoting and protecting the interests of shippers in Ghana.

Touching on some of the key contributions of the Authority over the years in facilitating trade in an effective and efficient manner, he added that: ” The establishment of shipper complaints and support units at the major land borders which provide real time assistance to shippers, the maritime seminars for the media and for judges, our publications in the national dailies advising shippers not to pay more than rates agreed with service providers, the negotiation of freight rates for the carriage of Ghana’s cocoa which saves the country on the average of close to ten million dollars annually , the development of the Takoradi Logistics Platform and the Authority’s warehouses in Tema which provide logistics support to shippers, the publication of the Shipping Review, a quarterly journal that provides information on current shipping matters and statistics to the industry, the Ghana Shippers’ House, purposed to house a freight exchange and a Maritime Arbitration Centre, are but a part of the programmes and infrastructure of the Authority developed to assist shippers.”

The Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, and the Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Odame who stood in for his boss, also graced the event to launch “The Admiral-a Compendium”. They commended the Authority for the initiative and underscored the relevance of the publication to maritime law practice and trade facilitation in Ghana.

Some judges from the High Court, lawyers and other distinguished personalities also graced launch of the book.

The second leg of the event which was a seminar on the Rotterdam Rules for the judges and lawyers was addressed by the Shippers’ Authority boss, Dr Mbiah.