Press notice from NMF April 2021

The Nordic Engineer Officer Federation (NMF) was founded on 21 February 1919 and represents approx. 30,000 engineer officers in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

Statement from the secretariat's virtual meeting on 12 April 2021.

A negative safety policy has emerged in connection with the “green wave” by politicians, authorities and shipowners, a trend we have particularly uncovered during the CV 19 epidemic in general and the postponement of the revision of the STCW Convention.

The Nordic Engineer Officer Federation notes that in order to try to save the external environment, the internal environment is completely forgotten. The Nordic Engineer Officer Federation is convinced that the external environment cannot be saved if professional maritime workers are not provided with competence or outdated regulations prevent them from performing their safety duties. 

An example of this is mechanical electrical complex plants with environmentally friendly energy sources used for manoeuvring and propulsion. 

This combination has large gaps when it comes to regulations for construction, operation, maintenance, fire preparedness/extinguishing and requirements for technical and safety competence for both the maritime and fire and rescue crews.

The Nordic Engineer Officer Federation strongly urges the authorities and shipowners to implement and practice the ISM Code as it was meant to be, with the understanding that STCW 1978 as amended is only an absolute minimum requirement for competence - and in fact encourages higher requirements.

ISM code states that each ship shall be manned with qualified, certificated and medically fit seafarers in accordance with national and international requirements and appropriately manned in order to encompass all aspects of maintaining safe operation on board. Elaboration of this is set out in Principles of minimum safe manning, adopted by the Organization by Resolution A.1047(27).
The Nordic Engineer Officer Federation will also highlight MLC 2006 2.7 - 2.8, which together with SOLAS regulations 14, provide a transparent procedure in a good tripartite cooperation for competence and safety - also in the future.