Paris MOU has released the final report of Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on STCW Hours of Rest, carried out between 1 September 2014 and 30 November 2014, The decision to carry out a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on compliance with STCW Hours of Rest was taken at the Paris MoU Port State Control Committee 45 in Riga, Latvia, May 2012.
The purpose of the CIC was to gain an overall impression of compliance with STCW Hours of Rest following concern over several incidents where fatigue was considered to be a factor. Also of concern was that a bridge lookout was being maintained.
A CIC Questionnaire and guidance was developed by the Paris MoU in conjunction with the Tokyo MoU. The Questionnaire comprised 14 questions to be answered by the Port State Control Officer (PSCO) during every Port State Control (PSC) inspection during the period of the CIC. Out of the 14 questions, 9 were directly related to the CIC and 4 were for information gathering purposes. A train the trainer session regarding guidance on completing the CIC questionnaire was held by the Paris MoU for PSCOs in June 2014 in Greece.
The CIC was carried out on all ships targeted for inspection within the Paris MoU Region from 1st September 2014 until 30th November 2014.
The Questionnaire was completed on a total of 4041 ships.
A total of 16 ships were detained as a direct result of the CIC Questionnaire. Whilst the detention rate appears low (0.4%) it has to be borne in mind that detention was not always the most appropriate action, as the breach of hours of rest may have happened in the past.
In 11.2% of cases (449) the hours of rest were not being recorded correctly and in 5.1% of cases (203) the watchkeeping personnel did not have sufficient rest.
In 2.5% of cases (101) a bridge lookout was not being maintained.
A total of 27 ships were not manned in accordance with the Minimum Safe Manning Document of which 5 were detained for non-compliance.
A total of 912 CIC-topic related deficiencies were recorded.
It is concerning that during the CIC, which was publicised in advance, 912 deficiencies were recorded (22.57% of inspections) related specifically to STCW hours of rest and that 16 ships were detained as a result of the CIC.
It is recommended that PSCOs continue to monitor STCW hours of rest during PSC inspections.
