Isle of Man issues new minimum safe manning requirements

The Isle of Man Ship Registry has issued an updated Manx Shipping Note (MSN) for minimum safe manning requirements.

The document was published on January 9th, 2023.

This MSN sets out the measures adopted by the Ship Registry to ensure the Isle of Man registered vessels are sufficiently and efficiently manned in accordance with the Isle of Man Merchant Shipping (Manning and STCW) Regulations 2014. The Regulations and this MSN have been produced by taking into account IMO Resolution A.1047(27) Principles of Minimum Safe Manning.

The Regulations apply to all Isle of Man registered ships except for -

fishing vessels;
wooden ship of primitive build;
warship, naval auxiliary, or other ship owned or operated by a State and engaged only on governmental non-commercial service;
ships not propelled by mechanical means; or
commercial yachts (refer to Isle of Man commercial yacht code National Annex).

Section 1 of the document specifies minimum safe manning document requirements.

Section 2 details the guidelines for determining the minimum safe manning for the Isle of Man registered ships.

Section 3 explains the responsibility of the ship’s Company. The Company must prepare and submit its proposal for the ship’s minimum safe manning by completing the minimum safe manning application form which is available on the Ship Registry website.

In section 4 the procedure for approval by the Isle of Man Ship Registry is described.

And section 5 points out the objectives and principles of minimum safe manning that have been reproduced from Annex 1 of IMO Resolution A.1047(27).