Guyana’s Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, on Wednesday announced that the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) will be realigned and repositioned to better serve the South American country’s emerging oil and gas sector.
“The immediate task of the administration within the next 10 days is to conduct a review of all its systems, functions and to assess the capacity and skill sets of its employees,” said a news bulletin from the Department of Public Information.
It said too that there were a number of changes at the helm of the organization as part of the realignment. Mr Stephen Thomas has been appointed as the new Director General of MARAD and Ms. Claudette Rogers – the former Director General – has been repositioned to Adviser on Maritime Affairs.
MARAD is one of the state agencies which comprise a spill response taskforce that oversees the National Oil Spill Response Contingency Plan – the others being the Civil Defence Commission, the Guyana Coast Guard and the Guyana Fire Service, among others.
In addition to its participation on this spill response taskforce, MARAD plays an integral role to oil and gas operations in terms of managing ports and piloting incoming and outgoing supply vessels and other craft connected to the sector.
