a. If the seafarers employment agreement expires or will expire soon, an exception to Standard A2.4.3 ‘Entitlement to leave’, and Standard A2.5.1.2 (b) ‘Repatriation’ of the Maritime Labour Condition 2006, will be granted in order to extend it.
b. In those cases where the change of crew, due to expiration of the Certificate/s cannot be carried out, the Administration will consider issuance of an Exemption or Dispensation Letter based on evaluation of the nature of the case.
2. Exemption/ Dispensation as above will be granted by Panama administration through an Authorization letter.
A. Extension of Seafarers Employment Agreement:
a. Shipowners seeking Extension of seafarers employment agreement as per ‘2 a’ above, are required to request SEGUMAR Office submitting the following requirements;
b. Exception letter granted by Panama Administration under above provision will be valid for a period of three (3) months to continue being engaged under the Seafarers employment agreement beyond a period of 11 months.
c. If an additional extension is required, request for authorization is to be submitted to the Administration. The Administration will grant a further period of three (3) months (seventeen months in total) extension on board. The granted extension will be reviewed by the Administration considering the condition of the COVID-19.
d. By the end of extension provided, the concerned seafarer shall have the right to annual leave with pay and be duly repatriated as per standard A 2.4.3 and A 2.5.1.2(b).
B. Extension of Seafarers Certificates including Certificate of Endorsement:
a. Shipowners seeking Extension of seafarers certificates including certificate of endorsement as per Para ‘2 b’ above are required to request SEGUMAR Office submitting the following requirements;
b. Extension granted by Panama Administration under above provision will be valid for a period of three (3) months from the date of expiration of the certificate/s, and will be reviewed by the Administration to decide whether the granted extension requires additional period considering the condition of the COVID-19.
C. Extension of the Validity of Colour Copy of Full terms of Technical Documents onboard:
The Panama Maritime Authority will grant an extension of the color copy of the full terms of Technical Documentation (Seaman’s book, Course endorsement, Certificate of Competence, Certificate of Proficiency, Endorsement of Certificate of Competence and Endorsement of Certificate of Proficiency) for the period of ninety (90) calendar days, counting from the issuing date of the technical documentation. This is In addition to the measures taken in the MMC-313 updated to 01st April 2020.
D. Dispensation Letter: If any third Party member of the STCW’78 Convention, who issued the Seafarers Certificate has not extended it due to Corona Virus outbreak,
E. Panama Administration will grant a Dispensation Letter to the capacity (rank). Shipowners seeking Dispensation Letter are required to request SEGUMAR Office submitting the following requirements;
F. Extension of Medical Certificate and Certificate of Proficiency:
The Administration has informed that;
a). Copy of the medical certificate expired within January and June 2020 issued by a medical practitioner recognized by the Panama Maritime Authority,
b).Passport copy.
The Authorization Letter will be valid for a period of six (6) months and will be issued at no cost.
a). The ship’s particulars, crew name and position on board.
b). Copy of the medical certificate expired issued by a medical practitioner recognized by a State Party of the STCW’78 as amended and/or MLC, 2006 as amended.
c). Panama License (Certificate of Competence, Endorsement of Certificate of Competence, Seaman´s Book).
The period of such authorization letter will not exceed three (3) months, and it will be issued at no cost.
G. Dispensation Letter of the Certificate of Inspection of Crew Accommodation (CICA).
a. The Dispensation Letter to extend the Certificate of Inspection of Crew Accommodation (CICA) issued by the Maritime Labour Affairs Department of the General Directorate of Seafarers shall continue to be issued. Ship owners/ operators seeking Dispensation letter are required to submit the following requirements to the e-mail address - labormar@amp.gob.pa
b. The Dispensation Letters issued will be valid for a period of three (3) months, and at no cost, solely under this exceptional circumstances.
c. A copy of the Dispensation Letter issued by the Directorate General of Seafarers is to be attached to the Certificate of Inspection of Crew Accommodation (CICA).
3. Measures established vide attached MMN-03/2020 would be reviewed and revised by the Administration, as required, based on the condition of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) across the global trade in the maritime sector.
4. Ship owners/ operators and masters of Panama flagged ships are advised to be guided by above.
5. This Technical Circular supersedes and revokes earlier Technical Circular No. 079/2020, dated 14 May 2020.
Enclosure:
Disclaimer:
This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.