Roger Towner, Head of the MCA Seafarer Standards branch recently met section heads and a lawyer from the BG Verkehr in Hamburg. Whilst the BG Verkehr are currently still refusing to accept the UK <200GT Master Code Vessel and <500GT Master Workboat CoCs, issued under article IX of STCW, they did reach a verbal agreement on an interim solution.
This necessitates that the MCA issues those who need to work in Germany with an additional CoC, which will be a Master <500GT 'Near Coastal' certificate issued as a STCW II/3 CoC. However, the 'UK near coastal' area for these CoCs will be extended to include the German North Sea sector. This will mean that companies will have to apply on behalf of the certificate holders that are under their employment, and will have to confirm that the holder in each case has x months service in workboats.
The MCA has now sent a written proposal to the BG Verkehr and will only issue a MIN notice once the German authority confirms their acceptance of this proposal. Application details will be given once the MCA receives confirmation from the BG Verkehr, which it anticipates should be within the next two weeks.
A fuller update was sent on August 4th to members operating in the German Offshore Wind Sector. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any urgent queries.
2017-08-10 09:00:00.0