ANCORS Fellow

John Mansell
Visiting Senior Fellow

John is a Master Mariner and Fellow of the Nautical Institute of London with a seafaring career spanning thirty-five years. During this time he served aboard general and refrigerated cargo ships world wide and spent twenty years in command of passenger/rail/road ferries in the Cook Strait trade in New Zealand. He is also an experienced ocean racing yachtsman, having undertaken a number of ocean passages including participation in two single-handed trans-Atlantic yacht races (1976 and 1984). For the past fourteen years he has been General Manager, Maritime Operations with Maritime New Zealand during which time he has held responsibilities for distress and safety radio, search and rescue, aids to navigation, seafarer licensing and oversight of all small commercial vessels. His current responsibilities include flag and port State control, coastal shipping, port and harbour safety management systems and navigational safety, pilotage, ship registration and Maritime New Zealand’s ten district offices. He has attended the MSC and FSI committees of the International Maritime Organization since 1995, is currently an IMO Auditor, and has served a term as Chairman of the Tokyo MOU on port State control. He holds a degree as Master of Maritime Studies (Distinction), and a Doctorate in international maritime law for his thesis; An analysis of Flag State Responsibility from an Historical Perspective; delegation or derogation? The thesis has been accepted in July 2008 for publication by Springer. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow of the Australian National Centre for Oceans Resources and Security; a research and specialist unit of the Law Faculty at the University of Wollongong, Australia.