The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) on Port State Control (PSC) carried out a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on STCW jointly with the Tokyo MOU between September 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022.
The STCW convention was adopted in 1978 and came into force in 1984. Since then, the convention has been amended several times, most recently by the Manila Amendments in 2010. Shortly after the full implementation of the amendments in 2014, the PMoU and TMOU carried out a joint concentrated
inspection campaign on STCW Hours of Rest.
In order to effectively enhance the performance ability of the crew on the ship and to ensure that the crew are qualified for the intended voyage the Tokyo MOU and Paris MOU jointly carried out another Concentrated Inspection Campaign for STCW in 2022 to evaluate further the implementation of STCW.
Objective of the CIC
The objective of the CIC was to have a better understanding on the training and certification situation of crew members 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 ships to which the Convention applied.
Scope of the CIC
The CIC applied to all ships. A ship should only have been subject to one CIC inspection during the period of the campaign.
The decision to carry out a joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) with Tokyo MOU on compliance with STCW was taken by Paris MoU Port State Control Committee. The purpose of the CIC was to have a better understanding on the training and certification situation of crew members in each party to the STCW 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.
A train the trainer session regarding guidance on completing the CIC questionnaire was held by the Paris MoU for PSCOs in June 2022 in Ireland.
If a second PMoU inspection was carried out during the relevant period a second CIC was not required. The questionnaire was completed on a total of 4112 ships and 4179 ships were inspected during the period.
The CIC questionnaire was completed twice during the period for 27 individual ships. For three of the questions (6, 7 and 10) detention was not suggested as an action to be taken because thenon-compliance occurred in the past and could not be effectively rectified before departure by detaining the vessel. A total of 571 CIC-topic related deficiencies were recorded during the inspection campaign in 2022. For the same period in 2021 200 deficiencies were recorded relevant to STCW.
Specification of CIC-topic related deficiencies
Conclusions
The results show that there is generally a good level of compliance, however this should be considered in the context that the shipping industry were informed well in advance of the intention to carry out a CIC in this area. The majority of the questions asked during the CIC already form part of an initial inspection and
are checked each time an inspection is carried out.
Recommendations
It is recommended that PSCOs continue to pay close attention to STCW related matters during inspections.