The Republic of the Marshall Islands has issued ship security advisory which serves as advance notice that, effective 01 April 2017, RMI Maritime Administrator will no longer receive SSAS alerts directly from any vessel.
In accordance with International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Regulation XI-2/6, activation of the Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) shall initiate and transmit a ship-to shore security alert to the Company-designated Competent Authority, indicating that the security of the ship is under threat or has been compromised.
The Company-designated Competent Authority is also responsible for receiving SSAS test messages and investigating whether the alert is real, test, or false. The Company-designated Competent Authority is defined as the recipient of the SSAS transmissions.
This new policy will instead provide for the Company4 or a Company-designated qualified third party, to serve as the Competent Authority to receive and verify SSAS transmissions.
This policy change will allow the Company or the Company-designated, qualified third party to acknowledge and respond to all test messages directly, ensuring the proper functioning of SSAS equipment and verifying the accuracy of the transmitted data without the need for acknowledgement of receipt by the Administrator.
This reserves Administrator involvement to only those SSAS transmissions that are real, which are to be immediately forwarded by the Company to the RMI Duty Officer. Third party Competent Authorities must not contact the Administrator directly.
Vessel operators may implement this changed procedure at any time prior to the official implementation date of 01 April 2017.
Further details may be found in the advisory herebelow
Source: RMI
