WORLD-WIDE Shipping Agency chairman Helmut Sohmen has advised Panama's politicians not to concentrate only on the income side of the country's shipping register, Secnaves.
Addressing the Second Maritime World Conference and Exposition in Panama City last week, Mr Sohmen said they should also be conscious of the need to use the revenue generated by the register for ''appropriate investments to safeguard the long-term future of this national asset''.
If, for example, delays in the required financial contributions to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) resulted in Panama not getting a seat on the IMO Council, ''then the politicians must be told that this is not good news to the shipowners flying the Panamanian flag'', he said.
Mr Sohmen said he was sure the contribution to the national revenue that the shipping register produced for Panama was on the minds of all the political candidates for national office.
He said Hong Kong shipowners had backed the Panama Register for many years and ''we would like to believe that our interests as owners with vessels in Panama are properly represented in that forum, and certainly want Panama's voice to be heard''.
He added: ''We all support IMO and salute its efforts to provide for an international regime of workable rules for the shipping industry at large, and we don't wish to see this very effective organisation weakened in its work by political turf wars.'' Panama and Liberia - two of the largest flag states - failed to find enough backers to win places on the IMO Council for 1994-95.
Pressure on the Panamanian register administration is growing following the sacking last month of Secnaves safety director Sabina Gonzalez.