All documents used to define or referred to by the Company Management System are considered as controlled documents. These documents are the following:

• Policy Manual
• Procedures Manual
• Fleet Instructions Manual (FIM)
• Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
• Forms (Records)
• Shipboard Oil/ Marine Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP/ SMPEP)
• Vessel Response Plan (VRP)
• Ship Security Plan (SSP)
• Ship-to-Ship Transfer Operations Plan (STS)
• Safety Training Manual
• Fire Safety Training Manual & Fire Safety Operational Booklet
• Garbage Management Plan
• Water Ballast Management Plan (WBMP)
• Emergency Towing Booklet (ETB)
• Vessel General Permit (VGP)
• Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP)
• Plans & Procedures for Recovery of Persons from the Water (RPW)

Furthermore, a number of reference publications (vessel & office library) are also controlled.

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If you are planning to open a shipping company with merchant ships to ply on international waters for export and import of cargo, one of the first thing to be eligible to do this business is to comply with International Management code for safe operation of ship and pollution prevention .

International Safety Management Code is a set of guidelines for shipping companies and its employees, both on ship and shore, to ensure that the ship and the companies are operating as per guidelines of SOLAS i.e. safety is never compromised and pollution awareness is present.

As per ISM code under SOLAS chapter IX, a company shall be issued with Document of compliance (DOC) and its ships are issued with Safety Management Certificates (SMC) only after ensuring that the company has a Safety Management System (SMS) and all ships are operated as per the SMS.

Understanding DOC

A Document of Compliance or DOC is issued to a company based on the type of ship. This means that the DOC will be different for different type of ships i.e. if company have10 containers and 10 oil tankers then 2 different DOC will be issued, one to the container fleet and other to the tanker fleet.

DOC is issued under the authority of flag state government by successfully auditing and reviewing companies SMS and its implementation.

Types of DOCs

Interim DOC

• An interim DOC is issued to a newly established company or when a new type of ship is added in the company

• The company is requested to submit SMS implementation plan and 12 months are given to the company for fulfilling the ISM requirements.

• The company shall undergo initial audit, and in case of newly built shipping company within the validity period of interim DOC i.e. 12 months.

• The company shall undergo additional audit in case new ship type is added to the shipping company within the validity period of interim DOC i.e. 12 months.

• For a new company, further document review is conducted prior to the audit by administration.

Short Term DOC

• A short term DOC is issued on the day of the audit by the administration auditor as a response or proof of completion of the initial, annual or renewal audit process.

• Validity of short term DOC is 5 months.

DOC

• It is issued by the administration after successful completion of initial audit or fulfilment or interim DOC requirements.

• Issued after at least three months of implementation of SMS at the company and at least one ship in the fleet for which DOC is concerned.

• The validity of DOC, after initial audit is 5 years from the next date of expiry and it is subjected to annual audit.

• If a Major NON Conformity is found in the audit, the DOC is withdrawn.

• The DOC is kept with the company and copy is kept in all the ship under that DOC fleet.

Understanding SMC

 A Safety Management Certificate is issued to the ship of a DOC holding Company by the administration.

Every individual ship must have a SMC which ensures that it complies with the onboard Safety Management Manual based on ISM.

If a company owns 25 oil tanker ships, then SMC is issued to each ship with total of 25 SMC.

SMC is issued after successfully auditing the ship for making sure that it is operating as per the SMS based on ISM code.

Types of SMC

1.  Interim SMC

• Issued to the company which posses Main DOC, Interim DOC or Short term DOC.

• Issued to the newly built ship added to the existing fleet of the shipping company.

• Issued to a new ship with change in Management Company.

• Issued to a company with change in the flag state.

• Its Validity is for 6 months.

• A ship undergoes initial audit with interim SMC and it must fulfil the entire requirements to comply the SMS based on ISM code to get the main SMC.

2.  Short Term SMC

• A short term SMC is issued on the day of the audit by the administration auditor as a response or proof of completion of the initial, annual or renewal audit process.

• Validity of short term SMC is 5 months.

3.  SMC

• It is issued by the administration after successful completion of initial audit or fulfilment or interim SMC requirements.

• The validity of SMC, after initial audit is 5 years from the next date of expiry and it is subjected to intermediate audit.

• The intermediate audit is carried out between the second and the third anniversary date of the ship.

• If a Major NON Conformity is found in the audit, the SMC and DOC are withdrawn.

• The original SMC is kept on the ship and copy is kept with the company.

Source: https://www.marineinsight.com/marine-safety/what-ism-certificates-you-require-to-start-a-shipping-company/

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Shall a vessel have an approved SOPEP (Shipboard oil pollution emergency plan) or SMPEP (Shipboard marine pollution emergency plan) onb? This is a rather common question even from experienced DPAs. As per Annex I, Regulation 37, par.1 of MARPOL:

Every oil tanker of 150 gross tonnage and above and every ship other than an oil tanker of 400 gross tonnage and above shall carry on board a shipboard oil pollution emergency plan approved by the Administration.

Still, on Annex I, Regulation 37 par.3 it states:

In the case of ships to which regulation 17 of Annex II of the present Convention also apply, such a plan may be combined with the shipboard marine pollution emergency plan for noxious liquid substances required under regulation 17 of Annex II of the present Convention. In this case, the title of such a plan shall be “Shipboard marine pollution emergency plan”.

Annex II, Regulation 17, par 1 of MARPOL clarifies that:

Every ship of 150 gross tonnage and above certified to carry Noxious Liquid Substances in bulk shall carry on board a shipboard marine pollution emergency plan for Noxious Liquid Substances approved by the Administration.

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As per regulation 37 of MARPOL Annex I, it requires that the Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP) shall contain a list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of a pollution incident involving such substances. Requirements for oil pollution emergency plans and relevant oil pollution reporting procedures are also contained in Articles 3 and 4 of the 1990 OPRC Convention.

This information is also provided to enable compliance with Regulation 17 of MARPOL Annex II which, inter alia, requires that the shipboard marine pollution emergency plans for oil and/or noxious liquid substances shall contain a list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of a pollution incident involving such substances. In this context, requirements for emergency plans and reporting for hazardous and noxious substances are also contained in Article 3 of the 2000 OPRC-HNS Protocol.

The “List of national operational contact points responsible for the receipt, transmission and processing of urgent reports on incidents involving harmful substances, including oil from ships to coastal States” contained in the circular is updated at the end of each calendar year. From January 2018 onwards, the official version of the updated list will be issued electronically and uploaded here on a quarterly basis (quarterly dates: 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October).

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SHELL Resilience program provides seafarers with those soft skils required for them to easily “bounce back” when adverse situations arise; a holistic approach which is weighting physical, mental and spiritual health of seafarers.

Shell Resilience-Maritime-Ktenas Panagiotis by Institute for Global Maritime Studies Greek Chapter on Scribd

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