By Sulaiman Jalloh

Parliament unanimously debated and enacted the National Shipping Agency Act 2025 on Thursday, March 13, 2025, for effective revenue generation in the country’s shipping industry.

The Act makes provisions for the establishment of the Sierra Leone National Shipping Agency as the sole national carrier of the Republic of Sierra Leone with the right to perform at its discretion the maritime transportation of 40 percent of the total value of cargo exported out of, and imported into, Sierra Leone whether unitized of in bulk, dry or liquid, including the provision of FPSOs, FSOs, Freith clearing and forwarding, transshipments, crew management, cabotage service, haulage, and related logistics services and to provide for other related matters.

Speaking to parliamentary journalists after the enactment, the Managing Director of the Sierra Leone National Shipping Company (now agency), Ahmed Saybom Kanu, said the agency would help to increase revenue generation for the country, adding with the act, mining companies will come on board to do business. “The difference would be leadership, experience and love of country” he stated, adding there are lots of things the agency will do something he said the shipping company was not doing especially revenue mobilization.