Liberia has launched a five-year strategic plan to transform its maritime sector into a driver of sustainable growth and private investment, the head of the Liberia Maritime Authority announced Tuesday at the 8th Association of African Maritime Administrations conference hosted in Monrovia.
Cllr. Neto Zarzar Lighe Commissioner/CEO of the LMA, told delegates the government is positioning the sector to play a larger economic role.
“The plan provides the roadmap for developing new business streams such as ship demolition and recycling, seafaring, bunkering, ecotourism, and expanding the domestic maritime sector,” Lighe said, urging local and international private-sector partners to explore investments through public-private partnerships and other mechanisms.
The strategy prioritizes maritime safety and security, protection of Liberia’s territorial waters and critical port infrastructure, while pushing to diversify revenue sources beyond traditional registry services. The Maritime CEO highlighted persistent sector challenges — piracy, geopolitical tensions, infrastructure deficits, environmental degradation, regulatory gaps and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and called for continental coordination to address them.
He urged closer collaboration between AAMA, the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) and the African Union on the maritime transport component of the continent’s blue economy agenda.
Lighe said Africa’s blue economy holds “immense potential” for trade, food security, renewable energy, tourism and job creation but needs stronger investment, capacity building and regulatory frameworks.
The LMA’s moves signal Liberia’s ambition to capture more of the downstream maritime value chain and attract private capital into emerging maritime businesses as it seeks to capitalize on Africa’s evolving blue economy.
