IMO has joined States of the African Alliance for Electronic Commerce (AACE)* to support work on 'The Role of Single Windows and Digitalization in Boosting African Trade' at a workshop in Casablanca, Morocco (4 December).
Participants learned about the 2022 amendments to IMO's FAL Convention, which now mandates the electronic exchange of mandatory data in ports for the completion of formalities. Since 1 January 2024, all IMO Member States are required to use a centralized digital platform or 'Maritime Single Window' to collect and exchange information with vessels when they dock at ports.
The workshop will boost States' ability to implement a MSW, which aims to significantly reduce time and costs associated with port procedures and thereby enhance the efficiency of shipping worldwide.
The workshop was organized by the AACE in partnership with the Moroccan Single Window, Portnet SA.
*The members of AAEC are: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Mauritius, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Senegal and the WAEMU Commission.
