CLIVE GRAINGER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF MARITIME AFFAIRS, YOKOHAMA & BANGKOK
In that same vein, we want to salute Clive Grainger, a long time friend of the registry and dear colleague, for his true heroism and unselfish actions in Thailand immediately following the tsunami in assisting the Japanese speaking community there to re-connect with loved ones and with home.

VANUATU FLEET UPDATE
We topped 600 vessels during 2004 and as this goes to press the number hovers just under 600.

FLEET / SAFETY LETTERS
Two Fleet / Safety Letters have been recently sent out: FSL 04074, Dr. Cowley’s report on IMO discussions on
ballast water management; and FSL 05075, our annual update of registry activities and regulatory issues.

SPECIAL THANKS
We appreciate the responses to the recent “quality survey.” We take the comments to heart and always look for
better ways to serve our customers. If you haven’t submitted the survey, we would appreciate it if you could return it
as soon as practicable so we don’t miss the opportunity to improve those areas that you are concerned about.

Thanks also to those that have submitted the emergency contact details and have compared their EPIRB MMSIs
with the hexadecimal IDs. This is very important information. For those that haven’t yet submitted the forms, we
would ask you to do so as soon as possible. There were seven alerts last year from vessels we couldn’t identify:
their MMSIs were programmed incorrectly. Would you want your vessel’s alert to go unheeded?

VMSL’s NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
We always thought the old email address was so easy: “vmsnyc” clearly stood for Vanuatu Maritime Services New York City (@attglobal.net). How difficult could that be? Well, some did have problems remembering that so we have made it easier to send us email. Our new email address is How simple can you get?

MAIIF 14 AND OTHER MEETINGS
MAIIF 14 will be hosted by Vanuatu in Port Vila, August 29 - September 2, 2005, shortly after the 25th anniversary of the country. Unlike Survivor Vanuatu, we won’t be handing out “buffs” to participants.

Thanks to all that stopped by to meet with Yudy Barba and Tom Horan at the International Work Boat Show in early December in New Orleans. Look for VMSL at booth 91 once again at CMA’s Shipping 2005 in March in Stamford, Connecticut. We’ll also be exhibiting at OTC in May 2005 in Houston for the first time. For every new vessel Tom Horan registers during the Conference, the owner will receive a nice reduction in registration fees.

ISO 9001-2000, STCW QUALITY ASSESSMENT, AND SUBMISSION TO THE IMO
VMSL underwent its external audit in mid-December with zero “non-conformities” found. Additionally, Vanuatu provided its 5 year quality assessment to the IMO. The assessment represented the three Vanuatu organizations involved in STCW: VMSL, the Vanuatu Maritime Authority, and the Vanuatu Maritime College.

PARIS MOU TARGETS GMDSS RADIO FACILITIES
Last quarter you will recall the Paris MOU PSC countries announced a crackdown on substandard living and working conditions onboard ship. This quarter the target will be GMDSS radio equipment and its usage. If deficiencies are found, vessels may be detained. Be careful out there!

PARLIAMENT AMENDED THE CONSTITUTION
After a quarter century of independence, the Vanuatu Parliament in October voted by the necessary two-thirds majority to amend the country’s Constitution in the following ways:

a.   Members of Parliament will be liable to lose their seats if they leave the political party they campaigned under when obtaining their seats.
b.   Votes of “no confidence” will not be allowed in the first 12 months of a new government nor in the last 12.
c.   The number of ministerial positions allowed will be increased from 13 to 17. (Note: This will cost the government over 120 million vatu extra each year, for which there is no current year budget allocation.)

These changes were designed to reduce the exposure to votes of “no confidence,” which the government of the day always feels are destabilizing.

VANUATU FLIRTS WITH TAIWAN
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister at the time, while on a private trip to Singapore in November with his publicity officer, turned up in Taiwan and signed an agreement diplomatically recognizing Taiwan as a separate legal jurisdiction. This was just weeks after returning from Beijing where he had re-affirmed Vanuatu’s long standing “one China” policy. The Department of Foreign Affairs denied knowledge of the matter and had not even been told that the Prime Minister was going to Taiwan. The Council of Ministers met and voted unanimously to revoke the recognition of Taiwan but the Prime Minister continued to defend his decision and reported that significant sums of money would shortly arrive from Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China immediately suspended all aid and Australia and other traditional donors gave thinly veiled warnings that Vanuatu ran the risk of losing their development aid due to a litany of initiatives taken by the Prime Minister that undermined the rule of law and good governance. The opposition party lodged a motion of no confidence.

MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE SUCCEEDS
The Vohor government that came to power in a snap election at mid year 2004 did not last long. As noted above, they mustered enough votes to amend the Constitution to give each new government a 12 month “safety period” for their first and last 12 months where motions of “no confidence” could not be tabled against them. However, the opposition challenged the legislation, alleging non effectiveness until approved by a referendum of the people. The Supreme Court agreed. As a result of the Taiwan issue, the majority of the cabinet ministers crossed the floor in support of the opposition’s motion of no confidence and the government fell.

The new Prime Minister is Hamilson Lini, younger brother of Walter Lini, the country’s first Prime Minister. He leads a coalition of about 8 parties which suggests there may be problems in maintaining stability. However, the big parties in the coalition may have enough critical mass to ensure continuity. The change has been welcomed by the PRC, Australia and many others. New aid commitments have been made and old ones reconfirmed.

One interesting point about the recent events was how the disputes of the parties were referred to the Supreme Court, thence to the Appeals Court, and how the rulings were accepted by all parties, thus further embedding the acceptance of the rule of law in the country. It was a good test and had a good result.