Certificate alert

PSC in Cyprus has found 28 forged and two genuine certificates it believes have been issued following the presentation of forgeries. Capt Andreas Constantinou, Cyprus` senior surveyor, says suspicion was aroused by a 20 year-old master and a chief engineer both of which presented Honduran papers and were unable to speak Spanish or English.

The Honduran authority verified the certificates were genuine. Capt Constantinou believes that if the Honduran authorities had checked the certificates presented (as prescribed in STCW) it would have found they were fake.

When the ship sailed with a new master and chief engineer, the previous former master and chief engineer were still on board but detailed on the crew list as an AB seaman and electrician.

Having raised the subject of forgeries and wrongly issued certificates at the IMO`s Maritime Safety Committee in December, the STCW sub-committee will examine the subject at its January meeting.