Concentrated Inspection Campaign on STCW Hours of Rest

The Paris, Tokyo, Indian Ocean and Black Sea Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) on port state control will launch a joint concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) on 1 September, 2014. This aims to establish that watchkeeping personnel are meeting the hours of rest requirements contained in the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW, 78), including the Manila amendments. The CIC will last three months, ending on 30 November, 2014.

Other MOUs are highly likely to carry out a CIC on this subject at the same time.

The deck and engine room watchkeepers’ hours of rest will be verified in more detail for compliance with the STCW Convention requirements during regular port state control inspections conducted under the regional ship selection criteria within the Paris, Tokyo, Indian Ocean and Black Sea MOU regions.

Port state control officers will use a questionnaire listing 10 items, focusing attention on the Minimum Safe Manning Document (MSMD) and records of rest. In addition, they will gather information on the watch system, whether the MSMD requires an engineer officer and whether the ship is designated UMS (Periodically Unattended Machinery Space).

When deficiencies are found, actions by the port state may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period to detaining the ship until serious deficiencies have been rectified. Any detentions will be published in the monthly detention lists of the Paris and Tokyo MOU websites.

The results of the campaign will be analysed and findings will be presented to the governing bodies of the MOUs for submission to the IMO.