Guides

The officially released ILO guidelines to be used for the medical examination of the people working at sea. the document was endorsed by the ILO and IMO MSC and will provide required complementary advice to the competent authorities as well as medical personnel and stakeholders of the maritime industry on proper application of the provisions of MLC 2006 and STCW 1978 conventions.

All seafarers shall undergo periodical medical examination in order to reduce the risks to the safety of the vessel and other crew members. This is a must-do to safeguard the health and safety of the personnel. Both conventions listed above require seafarers to hold a formal certificate of medical examination - subject certificate would normally have detailed information and indicate particular fitness aspects that should be assessed.

The intention was to provide the authorities with the recognized set of specific criteria - these criteria may be used either directly or, otherwise, they may serve as a basis when developing the national standards in line with the internationally recognized requirements. The guidelines are presented in consistent manner and shall be of practical use for all parties concerned.

An excellent reference publication released by MCA containing the detailed guidance on the major issues related to the harbor authorities and supplementing the Port Marine Safety Code. Both documents refer to the existing legal documents and apply to statutory harbor authorities.

The Guide is describing legal duties and powers; the information contained will be appreciated by the people assigned port management related tasks, who will find inside a remarkably comprehensive advice about marine SMS, standing for the safety management systems, marine services and risk assessment, navigation, emergency preparedness/response, pilotage etc.

The Guide also addresses the coastal security. The authors of the volume have used all experience and expertise to offer best solutions in support of the present paper to the ports and companies that support port operations. A short glossary of terms is provided. While applicable to all marine ports, the content of this guidebook shall be applied in reasonable manner and proportionally to each of them.

It has been specifically designed to provide some general guidance and is full of live examples of how the organizations could meet their commitments related to the compliance with the requirements of the Code. Do not treat this document as the only available means of compliance.

This guide is a signature documents as well as the info source for all members of the IALA, continuing the traditions and seeing it duly updated with the recent developments and achievements related to the marine aids of navigational technologies and their practical application. The content of the volume is a result of the years of close collaboration of the recognized experts.

The book is intended to play a major role in the info suite of IALA and shall be treated as a main information source for the marine aids practitioners everywhere in the world, and one of the primary guidance documents. The publication has already been translated into many languages of the world in order to be used in the regions where English is not a primary speaking language. The readers are encouraged to consult the associated IALA website I order to get the useful information reference to assist in performing their everyday activities, as they will find everything they need there.

The book opens with the general information on IALA-AISM followed by the chapter on the main concept and accuracy of marine navigation, operation requirements etc. the electronic navigation aids and VTS are addressed separately. Same applied to the power supplies, as well as the provision, management, design etc.

The Athens Convention on Passengers and Their Luggage was adopted in 1974 in Greece with subsequent entering into force in 1987. The provisions of the subject convention are considered applicable to all international carriage if the vessel flies the flag or has been registered in a state that is a party to the convention, or if the contract for transportation includes such state, or the place of destination/departure, as per the above mentioned contract, is in a state that is a party.

Here, the term “international carriage” means the transportation in which, as per the carriage contract, the places of destination and departure of the vessel, represent different states or in a single state, provided that the intermediate port is in place. The carriers are considered as bearing the liability for any damage that has been suffered as a result from a personal injury or death of the passenger and/or loss of the luggage or its damage that has taken place because of either fault or the neglect of the carrier…

The publication is a must-know for all people dealing with the maritime transportation of people since it plays a core role in provision of the subject services within the appropriate regulatory framework.

This IMO publication is dealing with the oil spill responses. Even despite a huge number of guidelines and manuals available today on the subject matter, they mostly cover the arctic and temperate waters. The present publication will be beneficial to the people involved in responding to the oil spills that occur in the tropical areas. The information is intended to be applied when preparing the appropriate response strategies.

The idea is to provide them with the necessary info and instructions on the necessary response measure and what should be avoided in such cases. There is some supplementary information included, for example relevant techniques, fate of the oil spilled, marine habitats etc. all of the principles described in this publications have been worked out on the basis of the real life case studies as well as the results of the experiments reported earlier.

Since each spill features its particular characteristics, the information contained in the book shall be treated as guidance and not strict must-follow instructions, and due and reasonable flexibility shall be maintained at all times. The content covers the initial procedures, response actions, and all materials and equipment used.

The fourth edition of the world popular guide to ColRegs by Klaas van Dokkum, author of the famous Encyclopedia. In fact, learning the ColRegs itself should not preset the students with any significant problems. After satisfactory passing of the exams and tests they have the feeling that the ColRegs and ship maneuvers for giving way are not that complicated and hold no secrets.

Studying some of the other aspects of the nautical science often requires much more effort than it is usually required for mastering the ColRegs. However, the busy channels will demand a completely different approach to the applying the Rules. In the present document each of the Rules has its own page, while on the next page the accompanying amplifications are provided. The rulebook is arranged in five major parts. The first part provides general information including application of the rules and responsibility of the parties, plus general definitions used throughout the document.

The part B contains the steering and sailing rules, while the third part addresses the lights and shapes. In turn, the last two parts are combined in one dealing with the sound signals and exemptions that the ship may be granted. Four annexes provide some supplementary information of positioning and technical details of navigation lights and shapes, additional signals to be used by fishing vessels, details of the sound appliances and distress signals.

It is well known that the marine transportation of chemical substances is logistically and technically totally different from transportation of crude oil and oil products. Chemical carriers are much more advanced from technical point of view. Their cargo may be noxious and/or hazardous chemicals of very high value and transportation of such cargoes will require sophisticated handling in order to provide safety, health and loss prevention.

Since such vessels are very complex, they are more robust in comparison to regular bulk carriers. The huge number of cargo tanks, complex cargo operating systems and supply of deck services make it possible for chemical carriers to transport quite a wide range of various substances in accordance with the IMO IBC/BCH Code requirements. The chemical goods transported by sea require thorough and very careful consideration in the process of the planning and their loading on board.

Some of them can be sensitive to the temperature while others are presented in a form of the semi-gas; moreover, some of those cargoes can react with each other, and this all creates so many additional difficulties and risks associated with the marine transportation of such goods. That is why the main preliminary checks are to be made as necessary of the chemical vessel type, coating in the tanks, environmental controls such as inerting, cross-compatibility with any other carried cargo etc.

The present guidebook has been intended to provide the crew members and Masters of the EERVs, standing for the "emergency response and rescue vessels", as well as the OIMs, i.e. offshore installation managers and all other personnel involved in the offshore operations, with the general technical guidance regarding the proper conduct of those operations as part of the recovery arrangements.

This publication opens with the list of references and acronyms, explanation of terms and definitions that are used there throughout the document, general introductory information and guidance, followed by the information on routine operations - mobilization to location, operations on locations, verification and validation of recovery and rescue arrangements, procedures to follow when departing from location, emergency response and environmental emergencies, data cards, emergency response plans for offshore emergency and also escape or evacuation, typical installation checklist, example of the collision avoidance strategy, STS (ship-to-ship) transfer of crew by using rescue craft masters checklist, some established trial procedures for validation of the ERRV baseline performance, adverse weather standards, overside working and flying operations, baseline standards for recovery and rescue, place of safety and sample emergency scenario checklist, helicopter winching procedures, infringement of the safety zone forms, recovery and rescue support sharing methodology, and the use of non-certificated ERRV.