Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA), the government authority charged with regulating, coordinating and supervising all aspects of Dubai's maritime sector, exposed its continuing efforts in organizing anchorage of maritime crafts across Dubai waters from the enhancement of theorganizational processes and operational procedures of the places of anchoring in the emirate. Dubai is witnessing a big turnout of maritime crafts varying from business and tourism, to sports and entertainment, due to its tactical position as a worldwide company and tourist center.

The continuous follow-up of these procedures are available in response to the resolution recently provided by the Authority to compel anchored aquatic crafts to conform to the greatest maritime security requirements throughout anchorage time in the diving locations, in addition to compliance with federal and regional legislation and international treaties of the International Maritime Organization about maritime safety.

The application of these regulations are among DMCA's strategic priorities, which shows the collective efforts to guarantee 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 security and functional effectiveness, and the application of the resolution on anchoring, which is considered as a strong impetus to the personification of the goals to create an integrated, safe and sustainable maritime environment that will make Dubai among the most vital maritime capitals of the world by 2020, in line with the directives of the nation's sensible leadership.

Captain Khamis Weld Gmeel, Senior Manager, Marine Traffic Operations, Dubai Maritime City Authority, stated, "We continue to organize anchoring operations as part of our commitment to incorporate elements of maritime security, safe navigation and functional performance along the coastline. This is among the main pillars set to improving the local and global ship owners and financiers' self-confidence and to enhance the competitiveness of the maritime cluster, which flows into the Maritime Sector Strategy objectives-- particularly in the development of services and arranging and promoting the maritime sector focused on strengthening Dubai's status as one of the most competitive maritime capitals on the planet."

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