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WGMA Company functions
The main role of the West Gulf Maritime Association is to act as a common voice of the offshore sector, to promote safe working conditions, improving competitiveness in the maritime industry.
The International Maritime Contractors Association, together with other trade associations provides members with practical guidelines that allow them to self-regulate their activities, rather than looking for customers or contacting the government to establish rules and procedures. Government cannot develop legislation on a range of issues for each operation carried out in the maritime and offshore industries. The main advantage of guidelines for the industry is that these documents can be implemented and updated faster than the legislation, which is of key importance for the industry with rapidly developing technologies.
As a trade association, the company complies with international competition Law (antitrust, other similar laws), using strict rules to ensure compliance. This branch of the organization operates in the territory of the Western Gulf, which historically is a very important part of the world’s sea-lanes. It is worth learning a little about its long enough history.
Discovery of the Northwest Gulf
The French and the British, too, like the Spaniards, sought to reach the treasures of the East, setting sail to the West. Instead of following the route of the Spaniards around South America, they searched for a route around North America, hoping to find a straight through which their ships could sail to China. This strait was called the North-West.
In search of gold
During the voyages, one of the crewmembers brought from the shore several black stones, sparkling with gold streaks. When Frobisher returned to London and showed them to the experts, they said that the stones contained gold. Having made two more voyages to these places, Frobisher collected a huge number of similar stones. However, when he returned from the last voyage, he was told that his finds were of no value: the stones contained not gold but iron pyrite, sometimes called “gold for fools”.