Electronic certificates in Maritime

The IMO Facilitation Committee approved circular, FAL.5/Circ.39/Rev.2 - Guidelines for the use of electronic certificates, at its 40th session in April 2016.

Section 7 of FAL.5/Circ.39/Rev.2 provides that port State control officers and other stakeholders should accept electronic certificates that contain the features identified in section 4.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), has agreed that a certificate may be considered as "original" or "authentic" while containing an "authorized" electronically applied signature or stamp.

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BTM for PCC - it is one month old!

10th of March 2021 my Principles launched the specialized Bridge Team Management course for car carriers. That became possible as the result of collaboration with one of the world class simulation providers, pioneering in the cloud simulation.

As the author of this course, I focused on the exercises which match typical challenges for the bridge team of a 6000 CEU PCTC: windy Northern Europe locks, weathery anchorages and ports, unknown elements to compensate for, the pilots and tugs that are not magic...

This 3-day course has been aimed at developing teamwork ability, enhancing shiphandling and bridge team management techniques with reference to a car carrier specifics, i.e.: high windage area, high elevation and forward navigating bridges, high power to dwt ratio, egg-shaped underwater body, etc.

During the simulation, participants are expected to make effective use of Navigational procedures and checklists, apply COLREGs, practice MRM and BTM concepts, observe requirements of the STCW code and other relevant industrial guidelines and regulations.

The first batch of trainees were exceptionally experienced officers, who contributed lots to the simulation exercises development by their feedback. Now, one month after its birth, the course lives and gets stronger.

As it is always with a new project launched, it grows being de-bugged, developed and updated to suit the needs of the car carrier teams. I feel honoured to have it in my hands and see the results in front of my eyes. Hope for making a difference in better awareness, skills and safety for the PCC officers.

Alexey O. Chepok

This post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Suez Canal blockage - human factor?

I saw jokes in Twitter/Facebook posted by seafarers (?) about the blockage of Suez by the 400-m long container carrier. "Experts" gave interviews to media. General public is amused by the 9.6 billion figure of daily losses (what losses? to whom?).

Twitter post example

Just few voices in this mess of information were relevant and referenced the case from the point of view that I share. Well, what is my point of view?

May I quote below an excerpt from SHELL Learning Engagement Tool on Human Performance:

"Often incidents are blamed on people and this gives the impression that people cause incidents. However, most mistakes, actions and decisions happen because of the way the workplace is set up, how work is designed, the type of equipment and control measures being used and how leaders influence the culture of an organisation."

One of the sensible short interviews for general public from Capt. John Konrad (gCaptain) that mentions a link to the problem of huge ships with the 'same' numbers of people and technology. Tribute to Deutsche Welle TV.

USCG notifies: COVID-19 Safety Requirements in the Maritime Transportation System

Original document.

The President of U.S.A. issued Executive Order (13998), Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel that requires masks be worn on all “public maritime vessels, including ferries” to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued order, Requirement forPersons to Wear Masks while on Transportation Hubs, 29JAN2021, requires all persons travelling on all commercial vessels to wear a mask.

This Order requires vessel operators to use best efforts to ensure that any person on the vessel wears a mask when boarding, disembarking, and for the duration of travel. Depending on the circumstances, best efforts may include:

1. Boarding only those persons who wear masks; 
2. Instructing persons that Federal law requires wearing a mask on the vessel and failure to comply constitutes a violation of Federal law;
3. Monitoring persons on board the ship for anyone who is not wearing a mask and seeking compliance from such persons;
4. At the earliest opportunity, disembarking any person who refuses to comply;
5. Providing persons with prominent and adequate notice to facilitate awareness and compliance of the requirement of this Order to wear a mask.*

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*Best practices may include, if feasible, advanced notifications on digital platforms, such as on apps, websites, or email; posted signage in multiple languages with illustrations; printing the requirement on transit tickets; or other methods as appropriate.

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