Newly Appointed Panama Ship Registry Chief Fernando Solórzano Speaks About Role
Newly appointed Head of the Panamanian Ship Registry Fernando Solórzano recently spoke with Seatrade Global about his new position, previously held by Alfonso Castillero, the challenges the administration faces today and how he plans to build upon Castillero's achievements.
Upon leaving the Panamanian flag, Castillero said he believed Panama needed a "complete holistic re-engineering and new approach" to its operations but that "the new authorities will have the same vision of continuous improvement and to offer a better service at a competitive price for the benefit of users and the country."
Seatrade reports "Although Panama remains the world’s first open registry, [Solórzano] will face increasing competition from other flags willing to offer lower prices and other incentives to switch flags.
“Providing a good and efficient service to shipowners round the world is of utmost importance to the flag and to me,” Solórzano told Seatrade Global.
The Registry has improved considerably in recent years under predecessor Castillero who opened several technical support offices of Segumar in Piraeus, Tokyo and Seoul, and brought Panama into the Paris MoU white list for the first time. As of 30 June 2014, Panama registered 220.09m gt, up from 218.27m gt at 31 December 3013 which was the only year the flag tonnage had decreased from 220.44m gt at December 31, 2012.
“We need to increase our technical personnel in the countries where are based our shipowners, as well as in Panama in order to improve our services. That is the key to success: immediate response. At the moment, our technical personnel are not enough in the present centres and we need to open more support offices-Segumar,” he says.
A slight decrease in tonnage in 2013 showed the importance of two strategic elements: good service but also reasonable intermediary costs.
That had been a serious issue during the previous administration that gave a Panamanian company, Orion, the monopoly of issuing licences and assessments, inflating intermediary costs. Orion’s monopoly was cancelled the day before President Varela took office. “We will soon review all tariffs and ancillary costs with particular emphasis for new buildings tariffs since we want them to be more attractive to ship owners,” said Solorzano.
On the new Ship Registry Chief’s priority agenda is the improvement of Panama’s position in Port State Control ranks and lowering the rate of detentions in the Paris, Tokyo and other MoUs aiming at classifying for the US’ QualShip 21 category.
“Also, Panama needs to offer friendly online services, improve its electronic platform of services for both shipowners and its administration’s offices round the world, as well as for its seafarers. We have done some effort in that sense, but that is not enough,” he explained.
Solórzano has over 20 years' experience with the Panama Maritime Authority, previously having served as head of the registry from 2004-2007, as well as administrator through 2009.
