Tanzania: Zanzibar to Introduce Surveillance Radar, MV Tracking Systems in Indian Ocean
19 APRIL 2024
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
DAR ES SALAAM: Zanzibar is planning to introduce surveillance Radar and marine vessel tracking system to promote safer fishing and transportation activities in the Indian Ocean.
This was unveiled by Zanzibar's Minister for Infrastructure, Communication and Transport, Dr Khalid Salum Mohamed. He made this revelation in Dar es Salaam on Thursday while officiating opening of the of a two day Regional Seminar on Africa Ferry Safety which was convened at Julius Nyerere International Convectional Center.
"Currently there are around 380 illegal harbors used for boarding and disembarking of passengers and cargo. This contravenes safety measures. The government is in the process of dealing with this by introducing surveillance radar and marine vessels tracking system," the minister observed |
 Incidentally, SRT seem to now have at least four expats based in the Philippines, as opposed to one in Indonesia and none elsewhere (leaving out JF in Toulouse and Francois in Vancouver who happen to live there). Dean Jones, whom some of you have met, still seems to be with them although he doesn't appear directly on SRT's LinkedIn. There are also a systems engineer and a success manager as well as the Middle East programme manager who has relocated. These three have moved to Manila relatively recently, the success manager very recently, so have nothing to do with the installation of the IMEMS project. I don't remember anything in the tender document about a continuing level of in-country support or indeed anything at all after the provision of four years satellite coverage.
So what is this relatively high head-count doing over there? The sales people, which in the Philiipines is Tucker, fly in and out. So my best and only guess is the PCG. It is unlike SRT to commit to in-country overhead in the hope of winning a contract so my tentative conclusion is that they are already working closely with the PCG (and vice versa) on the future implementation of projects soon to be tendered. Tomorrow is the last day for submitting new projects to the budget people for potential inclusion in the 2025 budget. |
I would say that it is very political. The new Minister of Agriculture is a commercial fisher and it looks like the BFAR were enforcing the transponders issue except in the region covered by the ruling. I imagine this is the result.
It is very strange that the Ombudsman didn't look further at the reasons why the French loan specified that the bidder be French. A Senator with French family ties had been pushing for the project. The BFAR did not want to buy from CLS and they went through all the DBM and NEDA approvals by the book and transparently. The Ombudsman himself has complained about corruption at the Ombudsman.
Whatever the ins and outs, it looks like Marcos and the Department of Agriculture has been captured by the commercial fishers. I don't see much rolling out soon.
Edit. from two days ago. |
The article is not news. It's almost a year old. |
Probably a lot more politics involved than is obvious, but isn't great to have SRT associated with this sort of story. |
hxxps://insiderpaper.com/philippine-coast-guard-to-join-military-drills-with-united-states/
"The Balikatan drills will involve a simulation of an armed recapture of an island off the western province of Palawan, near the South China Sea, and the sinking of a vessel off the northern province of Ilocos Norte, several hundred kilometres from Taiwan."
Will the exercises involve our kit? |
I suppose that they will be thinking that they can shift 10,000 and more of these a year once they get traction to get to the $20-30 million they forecast. That doesn't seem outlandish in principle, but the leisure AIS market does not seem very big. Vesper went bust and the recent post about our new US wholesale distributer had SRT's offerings in two of the three best-seller positions but both were Class A devices so probably not leisure boaters.
I have been musing about these new hires that they are looking for to develop portal access to the Geovs hub. Maybe it is something that they have always wanted to do but didn't have the cash. That rules itself out because they still don't have the cash. I can only conclude that it is client driven and that client must be the PCG. Bakamla has already signed their contract even if the start has been delayed with UKEF etc so that will not have been re-speced. They would surely not spend more money doing something for the Saudis given their prevarication or whatever ailment they suffer from. That leaves the PCG as the main impetus with the BFAR a distant second. I suppose that the PCG will want to own the system and share defined aspects with others via the web? |
Early launched Beta products that are then progressively improved via market use and feedback, vs, getting it right in the first place.
Not a good way to treat customers who effectively become outsourced funders of ongoing R&D.
Agree, better to 'hit the mark' at launch. |
Sounds like SRT made the right call by disappointing us shareholders with the delays rather than releasing a product that doesn't quite hit the mark. |
Thank you WCE. A very in depth account. |
A piece, mostly, on Nexus on Panbo. |
It's about time we had a webcast with an update on Q5.
Nothing fresh on the Gallery since the great postage stamp find. |
I had been very surprised at how quickly the Philippines MOD re-configured their modernization plan towards more of a US posture (one of the aims was to align more closely with their international partners, i.e. the US and Japan) and got Presidential approval for it, a matter of months really. It is obvious now with all this summitry going on. The US has promised $500 million a year for five years in grant support and would of course have wanted a clear and sensible plan for the use of this. It seems to be almost exclusively oriented towards the South China Sea.
I would expect to see the PCG plans quite soon and maybe we will be in a position to ascertain how SRT fits in. Once a tender comes out we should know for sure, but I do not expect the market to realize that it will represent a mere starting point. SRT has been bandying big numbers around for so long with no tangible outcomes. |
cynical observation but occasionally true for high ranking persons. Time to send 'em to jail I say. |
If the same thing happened here in the UK, one would receive a knighthood, pension, medal and promotion. |
apparently, it was well known for years that this lady was milking the bank for loans to hundreds of shell companies that belonged to her but were disguised to not reveal that. She was well connected in high circles and her contacts were well rewarded for turning a blind eye. This prosecution seems to be a response to public anger at the level of corruption and the damage non-action is doing to the ruling party. |
Back in the day when I lived in Saigon, I remember a minister in charge of electricity being given a death sentence for trousering a bunch of money, $400 million if memory serves. I said to my interpreter/driver that it seemed a bit harsh and that the minister was a bit of an idiot to think he could get away with it (the project was a North/South cable and very high profile and he nicked the cable). My man said to me well yes it might seem a tad tough on him but just think how rich his family was going to be for generations. |
yump, yes that may be a factor. I hear she has had the death sentence imposed but has been offered a more lenient sentence if she repays a significant amount of the money stolen. Would you willingly die rather than hand over money, specially if you have plenty?
"The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions" |
I seem to remember the Gallery featuring a smiling Mr T taking a photo opportunity with some high ranking official - in Vietnam - years ago.
So they'll be well aware of SRT, if they can recall. |
Vietnam maybe not a customer quite yet until they get the 44bln back from that fraud. |
Vietnam places tremendous importance on maritime security for several reasons. First, the country is involved in territorial disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Protecting its sovereignty and asserting its sovereign rights over these contested areas are the top priorities in Vietnam’s maritime strategy. Second, Vietnam’s export-oriented economy relies on the safety and freedom of navigation in its waters and the wider maritime region. Third, Vietnam depends on maritime resources for many economic activities, such as fishing, aquaculture, and offshore oil and gas exploration. Safeguarding these interests is therefore essential to Vietnam’s economic wellbeing. Lastly, protecting marine biodiversity and coastal habitats is crucial for Vietnam’s sustainable development. |
Marcos Biden and the Japanese PM also. |
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meet with high-ranking officials from the Philippines at the State Department in Washington. Representing the Philippines are Officer in Charge of the National Defense Carlito Galvez Jr. and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo. |
$23 billion at a guess?
I don't think the EU has been or will be happy with what has gone on. Now of course the EU has no business interfering with social policy in the sense of little fishermen versus big boats, so if they change or re-interpret the constitution to legalize the encroachment of the large boats in municipal waters then it is no longer IUU. However, they could easily object to the lack of policing of the methods used by these boats from what the article (and the follow-on one) says. So a red card might still be on the horizon.
Even if this is resolved soon, I can't see any near term expansion of the IMEMS project. So it really is the PCG and security side of things that will be the main driver in the Philippines and there seems to be movement on that front. But I expect that to be piecemeal by geo-political importance and requiring fishing boats of whatever size to be fitted with transponders only in those zones. I really don't foresee a micro-managed programme covering all fishing boats emerging in the next decade, despite the comments in the City AM article, and the number of boats and unfortunately fish will be much less than forecast. |
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