WORKSHOP on MLC COMPLIANCE FOR THE YACHTING SECTOR   Wednesday, 23rd March 2016 Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry

MLC, PORT STATE CONTROL and the YACHTING SECTOR Dr Anthony Galea

PSC PSC may be described as the inspection of foreign ships in national ports of the adhering states intended to verify that the condition of ships and their equipment comply with the requirements of international conventions, and in particular that the ships are manned and operate in accordance with such rules

PSC In practice PSC is a result of a harmonized system of inspection procedures adopted by adhering states on an international scale intended to eliminate sub-standard ships The result is NIR (New Inspection Regime) supported by an information system called THETIS (The Hybrid European Targeting and Inspection System), also part of EU law as a result of Directive 2009/16/EC Visit www.parismou.org

PSC One of the many initiatives is the set up each year of a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC). Ex, in 2014 the campaign focused on hours of rest for crew There has never been a CIC on yachts, as CIC focus on operational or crewing aspects, not categories of ships – ships are identified for inspection in a different way via a profiling mechanism which can be assessed by visiting the Paris MOU website, or the THETIS portal on the EMSA website

PSC Which yachts are subject to PSC? Yachts engaged in trade Pleasure yachts engaged in trade What determines the status of a yacht for PSC purposes? Listing in THETIS but also certificates such as the Certificate of Registry and the Loadline Certificate How are the yachts categorized?

PSC Commercial yachts have no special status, however PSC officers do acknowledge yachts are not ships. Richard Schiferli, Secretary General of the Paris MoU – the first lesson given to PSCO officers about yachts is take off your shoes when you go on board However, he has also mentioned that yachts are similar to ships in that they need to be safe for passengers and crew, and provide adequate work conditions for crew

MLC 2006 The CIC for 2016 focuses on MLC 2006

MLC 2006 Arguably MLC 2006 was not put together by the parties involved in drawing up the document with yachts in mind, whilst living conditions on board yachts are in general much more favourable to crew then those on ships but nonetheless we must comply! Yachts have no privileged status, although thanks to the Tripartite mechanism relaxation may be achieved by Flag States if substantial equivalencies are put in place

MLC 2006 The main deficiency noted upon inspection are expired certificates or overdue surveys. One visit to the Paris MoU website and it may be seen that commercial yachts are being detained, and this is a problem for the captain, manager, flag, owner and charterer. Lets be prepared for 2016!

Thank you Please feel free to contact me on anthony.galea@vistra.com