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BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys Ltd Expands Into West Africa
06-Jul-2009
BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys Ltd, a leading international marine surveying and technical consultancy, and BMT Group subsidiary, has established a firm presence in the key West African market.
The company has appointed Capt. Kofi Micah, an experienced surveyor and administrator in the region, to head a new office in Accra, where he is building a team to respond rapidly to the needs of ship operators, underwriters, P&I insurance providers, and others in the maritime and energy sectors. 
Capt. Micah was most recently a senior member of the maritime administration in Ghana. He has been acting director in the technical division of Ghana Maritime Authority, the official body responsible for monitoring, regulating and co-ordinating activity in the maritime sector, with a staff of surveyors, legal staff and administrators. He had a wide range of duties there, from conducting ship surveys and inspections to enforcing shipboard safety and controlling ship-source pollution and investigating casualties.
Dr. Phil Thompson, managing director of BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys, welcomed Capt. Micah as a very experienced practitioner who knew the West African sector well and now offered a BMT service on the spot to act on enquiries. "The new office in Accra provides ready access into Nigeria for survey work: people can get to Lagos within the hour," said Dr. Thompson. "We have over the years served the region from our offices further afield, but we will now be able to provide a more responsive and local survey network."
BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys is familiar with African conditions through its work for many years in the waters of Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, Namibia and South Africa. It already has a team in Cape Town and Durban.
Capt. Micah served with Black Star Line, Neptune Orient Lines and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (UK), gaining his master mariner certificate in 1989 at South Tyneside College, South Shields, UK. He added qualifications in project planning and economic zone management at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, and Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
He was marine superintendent with Atlas Ship Management Services, and partner marine surveyor with Refast Marine Consult, Ghana, before moving to the country's maritime authority.