With effect from 01 Jan 2012, under the Manila Amendments to the STCW Convention, it is the duty of an employer of a seafarer, the master and the operator who has assumed responsibility for the operation of the ship to ensure that as a minimum. all persons who are assigned duty as officer in charge of a watch or as a rating forming part of a watch and those whose duties involve designated safety, prevention of pollution and security duties shall be provided with a rest period of not less than 10 hours rest in total in any 24 hour period, provided that:
a. The hours of rest may be divided into not more than two periods one of which shall be not less than 6 hours;
b. The interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours; and
c. The minimum hours of rest shall not be less than 77 hours in any 7 days period.
d. The above requirements need not be maintained in the case of an emergency or in other overriding operational conditions.
In order to ensure a continued safe operation of ships in exceptional conditions, exceptions from the required hours of rest is allowed provided that the rest period is not less than 70 hours in any 7 day period and on certain conditions as follows. It is important to note that such exceptions may be used only if permitted in the collective bargaining agreement:
i. such exceptional arrangements shall not be extended for more than two consecutive weeks;
Clarification: It means that any crew member can have the total rest hours of not less than 70 hours in any 7 day period provided it does not exceed for more than 2 consecutive weeks.
ii. the intervals between two periods of exceptions shall not be less than twice the duration of the exception;
Clarification: It means that if a period of exceptions is 7 hours then next exception can only be availed after 14 hours. iii. the hours of rest may be divided into no more than three periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours and none of the other two periods shall be less than one hour in length;
Clarification: It means that total rest hour in any 24 hours period may be divided into not more than 3 periods and one of these periods must be at least 6 hours while none of other two shall be less than 1 hour each, e.g. the required rest of 10 hours may be divided in one of the combinations 6+3+1 or 7+2+1 or 8+1+1. iv. the intervals between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours; andClarification: It means that between the two consecutive rest periods the maximum period allowed is 14 hours. v. Exceptions shall not extend beyond two 24-hour periods in any 7-day period.Clarification: It means that any of the above conditions (exceptions), not to be extended for more than two 24 hours periods (not necessarily 2 days) in any 7 days period. When a seafarer is on call but is free to sleep this is considered as rest period, however if during this period of rest he is disturbed by call outs to work or attending to alarms then the master or person authorized by the master shall ensure that the seafarer is provided with an adequate compensatory period of rest.
OPA 90 REQUIREMENTS (APPLICABLE ONLY WHEN TRADING IN US)
All vessels are required to follow OPA 90 (amended 46 U.S.C. 8104) work hour requirements, which are same as the STCW requirements, when operating in U.S. waters. On tankers operating in US waters, a licensed individual or seaman may not be permitted to work more than 15 hours in any 24-hour period, or more than 36 hours in any 72-hour period, except in an emergency or a drill. In this subsection, “work” includes any administrative duties associated with the vessel whether performed on board the vessel or onshore.”Note: These limitations apply to all crewmembers, not only watch keepers.
EMERGENCIES AND OTHER SITUATIONS
1. Nothing in these regulations shall impair the master of a ship or person authorized by the master from requiring a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary arising from:
i. Emergencies (The situations to be treated as emergency, are defined clearly in the regulations and relaxation of rest hour requirements is allowed under both MLC and STCW conventions. Adequate rest to be provided after emergency is over);
ii. Situations considered likely to become emergencies unless action is taken.
iii. Giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea.
iv. The immediate safety of the ship, persons on board, cargo and environmental protection.
v. Other overriding factors beyond the control of the master or the operator other than commercial considerations; and
vi. Musters and drills.
2. Musters and Drills shall be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue. Master should be aware that for rest hour calculations, time used for muster and drills needs to be counted as “work hours”.
3. As soon as is practicable after the normal situation has been restored the master or person authorized by the master shall ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate period of rest.
OVER RIDING OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS
Section B of STCW Code clarifies that in observing the rest period requirements, ‘‘overriding operational conditions’’ should be construed to mean only essential shipboard work which cannot be delayed for safety, security or environmental reasons or which could not reasonably have been anticipated at the commencement of the voyage.
Overriding Operational Conditions are allowed only under STCW and not under MLC. AMSA and MCA notices clearly state that they do not consider the ‘overriding operational conditions’ to cover work undertaken for arrival port, departure port and cargo operations, etc. As per guidance in STCW Part B, these cover two different scenarios:
a. Essential shipboard work which cannot be delayed for safety, security or environmental reasons. Examples could be when vessel is required to operate at a higher security level and all personnel are required to respond to a security threat, information regarding which was not available in advance. It could also be a case of safety or probable pollution situation where all personnel are required to respond so that it doesn’t lead to an actual emergency. This is a situation which if not dealt with, could escalate to an actual emergency. For this departure from the Rest hours may be allowed under overriding operational conditions.
b. Essential Shipboard work which could not have been anticipated at the commencement of the voyage:As per OCIMF guidelines, and guidance from other sources (PNI Clubs, AMSA, MCA etc), there is a clear recommendation against applying the provision of overriding operational conditions for commercial purposes. The indication is to treat this as NC and deal with it accordingly.