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39th session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Standards, Training and Watchkeeping (STW)
IMO’s Sub-Committee on training and watchkeeping held its 39th session on 3 to 7 March 2008 in London.
The among the main items on the agenda were the first substantial discussion on a detailed revision of the STCW Convention as well as discussions regarding safe manning of ships.
The revision of the STCW Convention is an extensive task which is expected to require a long procedural process. It was therefore decided to have an extra meeting in 2008 and possibly in 2009 as well as to mark the completion of the revision with a so-called diplomatic conference in 2010 where the amendments to the Convention will be formally adopted.
The discussions on the amendments of the Convention included a number of items among which were the introduction of a mandatory international alcohol limit, new officers’ categories, supplementary training requirements, technical adjustments etc. No final decision was made on the amendments. However an overview was created as to which issues should be discussed and negotiated in the future process.
With regards to safe manning of ships, the revision of the existing recommendatory IMO guidelines on safe manning was discussed. Also this issue requires further discussion and negotiation. It was decided to recommend to the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) that the work with revising the Convention should continue in a correspondence group tasked with preparing a draft for further discussion at the next session of the Sub-Committee tentatively in February 2009.
30. April 2009
by
Andreas Nordseth
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