Be abreast of trends in maritime sector — CJ urges judges
The Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood, has urged judges to be abreast of trends in the maritime sector for them to effectively arbitrate disputes in the area.
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With the predicted increase in volumes of global trade, Justice Wood said there was no doubt the maritime sector would present risks and challenges to operators in the sector, as well as the judiciary.
“The judiciary needs to keep abreast of the developments in the maritime sector in order to faithfully carry out its constitutional mandate as they relate to this special sector,” she stressed
Seminar
Justice Wood was speaking at the 11th edition of the maritime law seminar for judges of the superior courts of Ghana, organised by the Ghana Shippers Authority in Accra yesterday. The one-day seminar was to build the capacity of the selected judges in maritime law for speedy adjudication of cases.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) posits that more than 80 per cent of the world’s trade is conveyed in ships and related intermodal means of transportation. The Chief Justice said the expansion and modernisation of the Tema and Takoradi ports, coupled with the increased exploitation of Ghana’s oil and gas resources, presented potential maritime commercial disputes and provided justification for continuing judicial education in maritime law.
Since the commencement of the series of the maritime law seminars for judges, she said anumber of maritime trade and transport-related cases had been expertly handled by the courts with the judges relying on the knowledge gained from the seminar.
“It is important for us to ensure that these seminars continue to provide the needed platform for introducing new concepts and refreshing our minds on novel areas of law governing shipping, international trade and admiralty matters,” she said.
A firm grasp of “such matters would positively impact the quality of justice delivered and assist in the establishment of maintaining a robust jurisprudential database in this specialised area of the law”, she added.
The Judiciary, the world over, she said, was becoming more proactive and innovative and searching for new ways to deliver justice effectively, timely to the mutual advantage and satisfaction of both the court users and service providers.
Compendium
In a welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Dr Kofi Mbiah, said while world sea-borne trade reached an all time high of 10 billion tonnes in 2015, Ghana had recorded an increase of 14.2 million tonnes this year, as against 12.7 million tones in 2015, representing an increase of 11.8 per cent.
The growth in commence, he said, had introduced a huge potential for disputes in areas of electronic commerce, oil and gas,transboundary pollution damage, international sale of goods, cross-border insolvency and international maritime arbitration.
He said the presentations delivered at the seminars in the past 10 years had been put into a compendium to serve as a ready reference material for judges and would be launched next year.
A retired Supreme Court Judge, Professor Justice Samuel Date-Bah, who chaired the function, said it was essential for the Judiciary and the maritime sector to partner to create suitable conditions that would facilitate trade and investment.
That, he said, would reassure potential investors and other stakeholders in the shipping industry of the ability of the judiciary to dispense quick, affordable and appropriate amicable dispute resolutions.