NZMPA News:
IMPA Notice 971(Pilot Boarding Arrangements)
With IMPA Notice 971 IMPA President, Simon Pelletier, announced that:
“This morning at IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee 106 it was resolved to open the SOLAS Convention for amendment in respect of Pilot Boarding Arrangements. The proposals of China, largely supported by IMPA for improvements to the requirements for providing ladders were supported by Canada, Panama, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, ICS, BIMCO, Australia, U.S., Denmark, Spain, Germany, Bahamas, Ecuador, Finland, Marshall Islands and Ghana.
There were no countries opposed. This work will take place at the NCSR10 Sub Committee of IMO in May 2023. I would like to thank all National Associations for their work with their IMO delegates which delivered an excellent result for pilots.”
This resolution marks years of campaigning by pilots, pilots’ associations, and flags states to try to address some of the issues surrounding pilot transfer arrangements that have contributed to many accidents and several deaths in recent years during pilot transfers.
In particular, this resolution aims to include inspection, survey and maintenance/replacement of ladder requirements in line with ISO 799-2:2021 and remove some of the ambiguity in the current regulation that has resulted in varied interpretation of the requirements for pilot transfer arrangements by flag states, classification societies and pilots alike.
