The Panama Maritime Authority has revised its circular regarding the protective coatings of dedicated seawater ballast tanks in all types of ships and doubleside skin spaces of bulk carriers (PSPC)
The purpose of this circular is to inform users about the position of this Administration regarding the Unified Interpretation of the Application of Regulations Governed by the Building Contract Date, The Keel Laying Date and the Delivery Date for the requirements of SOLAS II-1/3-2 Convention (PSPC).
The Protective coatings of dedicated seawater ballast tanks in all types of ships and double-side skin spaces of bulk carriers (PSPC) becomes mandatory in accordance to SOLAS II-1/3-2 for all ships over 500 gross tonnage in any of the following conditions:
- The building Contract is placed on or after 1 July 2008 or;
- In the absence of a building contract, the keels of which are laid or which are at a similar stage of construction on or after 1 January 2009; or
- The Delivery date of which is on or after 1 July 2012.
The Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), with a view of providing more specific guidance for the application of the PSPC will follow the guidance for the unified interpretation of the application of Regulations as indicated in the MSC-MEPC.5/Circ./4 detailed as follows:
a) If a building contract signing date occurs on or after 1 July 2008, then the vessel must comply with the PSPC requirements.
b) Only in the absence of a building contract the criteria of keel laid applies. This means that in the absence of a building contract, vessels which keel are laid on or after 1 January 2009 must comply with the PSPC requirements.
c) Regardless of the Building Contract or the keel laid, if the delivery date of the vessel occurs on or after 1 July 2012, then must comply with the PSPC requirements
Notwithstanding the above, the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) conscious of the fact that there will be cases of vessels with a scheduled delivery date prior to the dates specified in the regulation, with a delivery delayed beyond the specific date due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the builder and owner, may in a case by case basis, accept the vessel as a ship delivered before the date of delivery specified in the regulation.
The Panama Administration in order to grant the above mentioned special consideration will require a report by the owner, providing the reasons for delay. The formal request, together with the report shall be sent to any of the Segumar offices.
When this special consideration is accepted by the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA), the delivery date annotated on the Passenger Ship Safety Certificate, Cargo Ship Safety Construction Certificate should be footnoted to indicate that the ship is accepted by the Administration under the unforeseen delay in delivery provisions of this interpretation.
Source: Panama Maritime Authority
