Manila Amendments
1) Revalidation for higher and managerial level officer for a certificate of competency (COC) issued by any governing authority.
2) New and improved training guidance for crews and officer serving onboard.
3) New requirements for MARPOL awareness which includes training in leadership and teamwork.
4) Stringent measures for preventing fraudulent certificate of competency (COC) to flow in the international market.
5) Rest hour onboard has been increased from 70 hours to 77 hours per week for a decent working of seafarer onboard.
6) Introduction of Electro-technical officer with approved training and COC.
7) More facilities and better training for junior engineer and cadets to tackle the problem of shortage of officer.
8) Updated drugs and alcohol policy and stringent medical examination.
9) New requirement for Able seaman to have a certificate of competency for boarding vessel.
10) New methods of training in modern technology like electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS).
11) Stringent competency norm for ship staff serving on tanker, gas and chemical carrier.
12) The new and improved requirement for ISPS training and also training to tackle the situation of a piracy attack.
13) Inclusion of modern training methods introducing distance learning and web-based learning.
14) New training regulations for ship staff in polar water and personnel operating dynamic positioning system.
15) An initiative is taken by IMO to cope up the shortage of seafarer’s worldwide by starting “go to sea campaign”.