Paris and Tokyo MoUs to launch PSC campaign on watchkeeping hours

The purpose of the CIC to establish that watchkeeping personnel are meeting the requirements regarding hours of rest as per STCW 78 as amended (including the Manila amendments). The inspection campaign will be held for three months, commencing from 1 September 2014 and ending on 30 November 2014.

The deck and engine room watchkeepers’ hours of rest will be verified in more detail for compliance with the mentioned scope of the CIC during a regular PSC inspection conducted under the regional ship selection criteria within the Paris and Tokyo MoU regions.

Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) will use a list of 10 selected items to establish that watchkeeping personnel are meeting the requirements regarding hours of rest, focusing attention on the Minimum Safe Manning Document (MSMD) and records of rest. In addition information will be gathered on the watch system, whether the MSMD requires an engineer officer and whether the ship is designated UMS (periodically unattended machinery space). For this purpose, PSCOs will apply a questionnaire listing a number of items to be covered during the concentrated inspection campaign.

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. In the case of detention, publication in the monthly detention lists of the Paris and Tokyo MoU web sites will take place.

It is expected that the Paris and Tokyo MoUs will carry out approximately 10,000 inspections during the CIC. 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.