SAARPSCO anchors in the Seychelles

Minister Peter Sinon, Ministry of Investment, Natural Resources & Industry, and Lt. Col. Andre Ciseau, CEO of the Seychelles Ports Authority and chairman of SAARPSCO, effected a successful investment promotion mission to the German states of Hamburg and Bremen.

Hans Niebergall, a German international maritime attorney and business consultant and newly-elected president and CEO of SAARPSCO’s (South Asia and Africa Regional Port Stability Cooperative), organized a three-day trade mission to the German states of Hamburg and Bremen for Minister Peter Sinon and Lt. Col. Andre Ciseau.

This NGO recently registered and located its headquarters in Victoria, Seychelles. SAARPSCO is an initiative that started in 2008 by the United States Coast Guard in close partnership with concerned South Asian and African nations. Its objectives include the combat of piracy, enforce lawful fishing practices, create sophisticated vessel tracking systems for more effective monitoring and management, promote international maritime communications, promote peaceful maritime trade and commerce, as well as preserve the Indian Ocean’s cherished pristine conditions.

SAARPSCO will also put its weight behind efforts to realize an “Institute of Maritime Academy” in the Seychelles for the advanced training and development of the sector – given its latent but clear potentials in view of its strategic location, deep and safe port, as well as the willpower of the stakeholders consulted. A new entity, the “Seychelles International Maritime Center (SIMC),” will be established to support foreign complementary maritime companies that intend to open offices in the Seychelles so as to expand maritime services on offer from Port Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles, and realize the objective of turning Seychelles as 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, Minister Sinon, Lt. Col. Ciseau, and Mr. Niebergall met with Sebastian Ahrens, managing director – who has graciously agreed to serve on the board of directors of SAARPSCO. Mr. Ahrens congratulated Mr. Ciseau that Port Victoria has been voted the leading cruise port in the Indian Ocean for 2010, winning the 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 in November 2010 and its related strategy and operations in the Western Indian Ocean region. The Minister and Lt. Colonel Ciseau discussed the possibility of a more frequent, if not permanent, presence of HAPAG LLOYD in the Seychelles.

VESSEL TRACKER, a global terrestrial Automatic Identification System (AIS) company that monitors the position, course, and speed of a ship, headquartered in Hamburg, has committed to establishing its “own presence in Seychelles for operations the Indian Ocean Region,” as described in an email to Minister Sinon and Lt. Col. Ciseau after their intense meetings with the managing director and co-founder, Mr. 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 the Seychelles.

Lloyd’s Register, a 250-year-old, London-based global magnate, was excited and committed assist efforts to realize the foundation and organization of the proposed “International Maritime Academy” in the Seychelles. The potentials of Seychelles as a maritime nation will be effectively harnessed and realized through the enhancement of the quality and levels of training education for the young people in the diverse maritime trade. This investment in the latter will maximize Seychellois substantive and qualified involvement and partnership with experienced foreign companies who wish to establish offices in the Seychelles and who will naturally depend on highly-skilled employees.

Minister Sinon, Lt. Col. Ciseau and Mr. Niebergall also conducted a productive meeting with OHB System AG – a mid-sized German space technology company specializing in low-orbit and geostationary small satellites for scientific research, communications, Earth observation, leading-edge technologies for manned space flight, models and studies for exploring our solar system, as well as reconnaissance satellites and instruments for broadband wireless transmission of reconnaissance image data for greater security and reconnaissance.

The mission culminated with a meeting of top officers of the Wasserschutzpolizei (Coast Guard) in Hamburg and a remarkable boat tour of Europe’s third largest port.

In summary, all meetings were extremely successful and companies have demonstrated keen interest in partnering with SIMC, to eventually establish their own facilities in the Seychelles.