US President Donald Trump is considering waiving the Jones Act requirement that only US-flagged vessels can move LNG from American ports to Puerto Rico. While top administration officials seem to be divided on the issue, the US President is leaning in favor of some sort of waiver.
The USCG Office of Merchant Mariner Credentialing published Change 1 to Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular 03-14, ‘Guidelines for Approval of Training Courses and Programs’, in response to the recommendations made after the sinking of El Faro.
USCG reminded owners and operators of towing vessels to ensure that 25% of their fleet has received a Certificate of Inspection before 22 July 2019, under Subchapter M. They must also schedule a vessel’s inspection before 22 April 2019 if the COI is expected to be received in the first year.
The European Parliament endorsed Wednesday the provisional agreement, reached by the EU institutions in late March, on Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme for the next budget period from 2021 to 2027. SEA Europe welcomed the agreement.
On Wednesday, South Carolina’s Senate advanced a measure that would require the state to block new infrastructure to transport or process offshore oil and gas. This comes as state lawmakers fear the Interior Department will open the Atlantic coast to offshore drilling.
In a circular issued on 4 March, IMO announced that all information related to shore-based facilities for the GMDSS communicated to the organization is available to all registered public account holders through the new GISIS module on the Master plan of shore-based facilities for the GMDSS.
Standard Club informed that tankers have been issued with new deck-cooling orders by the Panama Canal Authority. The orders take effect from this month and regard all crude, product and chemical tankers carrying cargoes with flashpoints of less than 18 degrees. The move was made to ensure the safety of canal operations, as well as to reduce disruptions in transit scheduling.
Iceland and Ethiopia have become the latest member states of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (MLC 2006), which sets out minimum international working and living conditions for seafarers on board ships. The MLC will enter into force for the latest signatories in 2020, one year after its ratification.
The European Parliament voted on April 4 regarding the revision of Directive 2008/106/EC on the minimum level of training for seafarers. The revision gives emphasis on the level of transparency that should prevail in processing demands for the recognition of seafarers’ certificates of new third countries. Such a recognition will now stop to be automatic, as the decision to launch this process will have to be taken by the Commission by means of an implementing decision and on grounds of several criteria.
