First session of STW after adoption of the Manila amendments to the STCW convention
BIMCO attended the 42nd session of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Sub-Committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW 42), which was held 23 – 28 January 2011 in London.
In the aftermath of the Manila amendments to the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) the workload at the meeting was moderate. The following important items were addressed:
• Revision of the Recommendations for entering enclosed spaces aboard ships:
The sub-committee on Dangerous goods, Solid cargoes and Containers (DSC) in 2010 agreed to a draft Revised Recommendations for entering enclosed spaces aboard ships. The associated draft Assembly resolution was subsequently sent to STW for comments.
The draft Assembly resolution was accepted by all present and it was agreed that training to entry into enclosed spaces was already covered in chapters V and VI of the STCW Code. The draft Assembly resolution will be forwarded to the next session of MSC, which will be held in May 2011, for possible last amendments prior to submission to the Assembly for adoption later in the year.
• Development of unified interpretations for the term “approved seagoing service”:
STW was asked to develop a set of unified interpretations of the term “approved seagoing service”. In STCW the term “seagoing service” means service on board a ship relevant to the issue of certificate or other qualification. STW 42 agreed after a prolonged debate not to develop unified interpretations on “approved seagoing service”.
• Development of an e-navigation strategy implementation plan:
The work on E-navigation and educational as well as training questions were dealt with in a working group. A correspondence group with participation from BIMCO had addressed a number of questions to STW and the sub-committee managed to comment on most of the questions. A few of them were not answered due to the fact that they were preliminary as the development of e-navigation was still in a preliminary phase; however, in general progress was made on this important item.