DUBAI

Less than 9 per cent of money in the UAE’s Dh75-billion-a-year maritime sector stays in the country, Khamis Juma Bu Amim told delegates to a briefing on a draft federal maritime law.

“Is this right? Is this acceptable?” said Bu Amin, Managing Director and Group CEO of Gulf Navigation Holding, and chairman of the committee responsible for the new draft law, at a briefing organised by the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) on Tuesday.

“The bottom line: we need that money to stay in the UAE and we need it to create opportunities,” he added.

He said the first priority of the new law, currently in its second phase of development and due to come into force at the end of 2017, was in the national interest, including security.

The second priority was driving growth in infrastructure, and only after that should the worldwide benefits be considered.

But at the start of a frank question-and-answer session following the briefing, Captain Gamal Fakry, CEO of Red Sea Marine, disagreed. He said his priority was providing a return on investment for his shareholders, not the national interest, and if turning a profit proved too difficult, he would move the business elsewhere.

David Galea, Head of Legal and Company Secretary at Drydocks World, said he felt that although the existing UAE Maritime Law — enacted in 1981 and amended in 1988 — was no longer effective, “we have to start somewhere” in replacing it, and the new draft maritime law was an important step in the right direction.

At the start of his keynote presentation, maritime law expert Ashraf Elswefy, of legal firm Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla, asked attendees if they thought the existing maritime law needed changing. There was widespread agreement.

“The world is changing,” Elswefy said. “Worldwide, the shipping industry is changing. Yes, I agree that in many parts of the world, and certainly in the UAe, the maritime law needs changing.”

As an example of changes he cited the role of ship masters, once relatively independent, but now in constant communication with their head offices and specialists. “Twenty, thirty, forty years ago the ship master was the president of the ship,” he said. “Nowadays ship masters are just driving the ship.”

In addition, he said, the existing UAE law did not encourage shipowners, either UAE nationals or international owners, to register in the UAE and fly the UAE flag.

Nor did it cover the roles and liabilities of shipping and cargo agents, stevedores or ports, which were all addressed in the draft law.

He said maritime law is organised through international consensus and conventions, and is subject to more agreements than any other field, including aviation and human rights.

In addition, each emirate had its own requirements.