Black Sea MoU will conduct a Concentrated Inspection Campaign on STCW

 

                      The member Authorities of the Memorandum of Understanding on PSC in the Black Sea Region (BS MoU) will conduct a concentrated inspection campaign on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW), starting from September 01st to November 30th.

The three-month campaign will be held under the coordination of Bulgarian Maritime Administration. The campaign shall be conducted simultaneously with the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda and some other regional PSC regimes. The MoUs joining in this concentrated inspection campaign will use the same list of (10) questions to assess the conformity of the number of specific requirements in the STCW Convention and Code.

The campaign on STCW aims to ensure that:

▪ to have a better understanding on the training and certification situation of crew members and confirm that the number of seafarers serving on board and their certificates are in conformity with the relevant provisions of STCW Convention and Code and the applicable safe manning requirements in each party to the Convention and on-board ships of various flag States;

▪ to check the arrangements made by the shipping company for the performance of new duties by the crew members and the implementation of relevant requirements on watchkeeping and rest on board and confirm that all seafarers serving on board, who are required to be certificated in accordance with STCW Convention, hold an appropriate certificate or a valid dispensation, or provide documentary proof that an application for an endorsement has been submitted to the Flag State Administration;

▪ the seafarers on board are medically fit and in possession of a valid medical certificate as required by STCW Convention; and

▪ the watch-keeping schedules and hours of rest are in compliance with the requirements of STCW Convention and Code.

The campaign will target compliance on all vessels, regardless of type, and will examine specific items related to the campaign in conjunction with the regular Port State Control inspection.

If deficiencies are found, actions by the Port State Control Officer 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. All inspections will be inserted into the Black Sea Information System (BSIS) and will be published online on the MoU website