Port State Control inspection triggered by a rest-hours complaint

Deficiency analysis

1. Watch schedule producing 6 hours of rest in 24 and 68 hours in 7 days. Breaches STCW 2010 Regulation VIII/1 and Code Section A-VIII/1: at least 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any 7-day period, with the 10 hours divisible into no more than two periods, one of which is at least 6 hours. MLC 2006 Standard A2.3 sets the same minimum hours of rest. Detainable.
2. Records not signed by the seafarer. A-VIII/1 requires records of daily hours of rest to be maintained in a standardised format and signed by the master and the seafarer concerned; the seafarer must be given a copy. Administrative deficiency, but evidence of a broken system.
3. Drill inside a recorded rest period, and the record altered afterwards. Two separate failures: the drill itself consumed rest that the schedule had already committed, and the subsequent alteration of the record is a falsification. Falsified records attack the credibility of every other record on board and are a strong indicator of a failed safety management system.
4. Sludge landed and incinerated on the same day. MARPOL Annex I Regulation 17 requires the Oil Record Book Part I to be completed for the collection and disposal of oil residues (Code C). The same 4 m³ cannot go both to a reception facility and to the incinerator; one entry is false. This is a serious deficiency and a potential criminal offence in the port State.

Detention

The combination of a rest-hours breach, falsified records and a false Oil Record Book entry indicates a breakdown of the ISM system rather than isolated slips. Detention is justified, primarily on the hours of rest and on the falsified records, and the ship should not sail until a rectification plan and a management review are in place.

Master's immediate actions

• Rewrite the watch schedule so that every watchkeeper actually receives 10 hours of rest in 24 (with no more than two rest periods, one of at least 6 hours) and 77 hours in 7. Standby and cargo duties must be included in the calculation, not treated as outside it.
• Correct the records prospectively and truthfully. Annotations may explain an error, but backdating or re-writing history is a second, worse falsification.
• Give each seafarer a copy of their rest-hour record and require signature; keep the master's countersignature.
• Reconcile the Oil Record Book: establish from the incinerator log, the reception facility receipt and the sludge tank soundings which disposal actually occurred, and make a proper explanatory entry. If there is evidence of a deliberate false entry, the master must report it rather than conceal it.
• Inform the company's Designated Person Ashore immediately, and confirm to the complainant that no detrimental treatment will follow.

Company's actions

• Appoint someone to attend, arrange a root-cause analysis, and issue a corrective action plan to the Port State Control authority within the agreed window.
• Review manning against the actual cargo-watch and port-watch demand; the schedule is often a symptom of an under-manned ship.
• Notify the flag Administration and, if applicable, the recognised organisation, and review whether other ships in the fleet have the same pattern.
• Ensure the seafarer's complaint is handled under MLC 2006 Regulation 5.1.4 and the on-board complaint procedure, with a right of direct access to the flag State and the port State.

Likely root causes

• Manning and task design. The second officer is being used as navigator, cargo officer and safety officer. Port calls with heavy cargo operations create a workload that cannot be met within 10 hours of rest, so the paperwork is bent to fit the expectation.
• Commercial pressure transmitted as habit. If the master believes a berth delay caused by rest compliance will be blamed on him, records will be adjusted rather than the operation.
• No internal verification. Nobody audited the rest-hour records against the watch bills, port logs and cargo records; the drill entry shows that the schedule and the actual work were never cross-checked.
• Weak document control. Altering a completed record rather than making a correct, dated correction suggests nobody is trained on how records are to be maintained.

Fleet-level correctives

1. Audit rest-hour records against watch bills, port logs, cargo operation logs and drill records on every ship; make this a standing internal audit item with a sampling method, not a paper exercise.
2. Re-examine manning and port-watch arrangements - additional ratings for cargo watches, or a two-person bridge team in port, may be needed.
3. Train masters and senior officers on the legal status of records: STCW records, the Official Log Book and the Oil Record Book are evidence; false entries are an offence for which the master signs personally.
4. Make the Designated Person Ashore route genuinely confidential, and verify through crew interviews that it is used.
5. Close the loop: the corrective action should be re-verified at the next internal audit and at the next Port State Control visit, otherwise the same deficiency returns with the next heavy port rotation.