CMOU Issues Revised Guidance re COVID-19
CARIBBEAN MOU ISSUES REVISED GUIDANCE FOR DEALING WITH IMPACT ON SHIPPING OF THE PANDEMIC OF THE COVID-19 VIRUS
On March 19, 2020, the Caribbean MOU adopted relevant guidance for dealing with the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 in a pragmatic and harmonized approach in the region. All port State Administrations have been advised to apply a pragmatic relaxation of requests for extending periods of service onboard of seafarers, delaying periods for surveys, inspections and audits on a case-by-case basis. At that time, the guidance asked port State Authorities to accept the period of grace for delaying surveys, inspections or audits extended by flag State Administration and/or RO up to three months from the middle of January 2020. Considering that serious interruptions to the shipping industry continue to become long-lasting as a consequence of the COVID-19 world pandemic, the Caribbean MOU reviewed and revised the relevant guidance in order to cope with the everchanging circumstances.
After consulting with other Regional MOUs as well as the IMO and observing that there is no clear end in sight with respect to the effects of the virus, the PSC guidance has been revised to allow port State Administrations to apply the pragmatic relaxation for an appropriate grace period for the delaying of periods for surveys, inspections and audits specific to COVID-19 given to ships by the flag State Administration and/or RO.
The revised guidance is currently in effect and may be further reviewed based off of any initiatives or recommendations from the IMO and/or ILO or developments with respect to the containment of the virus.
April 16, 2020
Contact: Mrs. Jodi Barrow
Secretary General
Caribbean MOU
12 Ocean Boulevard
2nd Floor, the Office Centre Building
Kingston
Tel: 876-967-1077
For more information on the Caribbean MoU on Port State Control please consult our Website on the following address: www.caribbeanmou.org
Note to Editors:
Port State Control is a check on visiting foreign ships to see that they comply with international rules on safety, pollution prevention and seafarers living and working conditions. It is a means of enforcing compliance where the owner and flag State have failed in their responsibility to implement or ensure compliance.
The Caribbean MOU was signed in 1996 in Barbados and now has a complement of 20 Member States (Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, France, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago) and one Associate Member (British Virgin Islands).
