Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA), the government authority charged with regulating, coordinating and supervising all aspects of Dubai’s maritime sector, revealed its continuing efforts in organizing anchorage of maritime crafts across Dubai waters through the improvement of the organizational processes and operational procedures of the places of anchoring in the emirate. Dubai is witnessing a big turnout of maritime crafts ranging from business and tourism, to sports and entertainment, due to its strategic position as a global business and tourism hub.

The continuous follow-up of these procedures come in response to the resolution recently issued by the Authority to compel anchored marine crafts to conform to the highest maritime safety standards during anchorage time in the diving areas, as well as compliance with federal and local legislation and international treaties of the International Maritime Organization about maritime safety.

The implementation of these regulations are among DMCA’s strategic priorities, which demonstrates the concerted efforts to ensure that anchored maritime crafts within the territorial waters of the Emirate of Dubai comply with the requirements of local and international laws and regulations in the field of maritime safety and operational efficiency, and the application of the resolution on anchoring, which is considered as a strong impetus to the embodiment of the aspirations to create an integrated, safe and sustainable maritime environment that will make Dubai one of the most important maritime capitals of the world by 2020, in line with the directives of the country’s wise leadership.

Captain Khamis Weld Gmeel, Senior Manager, Marine Traffic Operations, Dubai Maritime City Authority, said, “We continue to organize anchoring operations as part of our commitment to integrate aspects of maritime safety, safe navigation and operational efficiency along the coastline. This is one of the main pillars set towards enhancing the regional and international ship owners and investors’ confidence and to improve the competitiveness of the maritime cluster, which flows into the Maritime Sector Strategy objectives—particularly in the development of services and organizing and promoting the maritime sector aimed at reinforcing Dubai’s status as one of the most competitive maritime capitals in the world.”

“The new Professional, technical and environmental requirements for anchoring within the local and regional waters represent a major boost for efforts to manage maritime operational processes according to the highest maritime safety standards and global best practices. We continue to work on our presence through our ongoing patrols and the latest devices to monitor the maritime crafts docked within the local territorial waters and ensure their commitment to local and international maritime safety standards, as well as providing all the technical and logistical support services to the owners and operators of maritime crafts, in line with our fundamental objective centered around creating a safe, integrated and sustainable maritime sector,” concluded Captain Gmeel.

DMCA obliges maritime crafts that have been anchored for long or short periods of time to apply for a special permit to dock or make any of the offshore operations within the local and regional waters before reaching the local territorial waters of Dubai. The maritime authority grants formal approval for maritime crafts in the event of matched technical and operational conditions within the requirements of the approved anchoring in Dubai.

Source: Dubai Maritime City Authority