COMMENT

Little by little over the last five decades or so the MCA has done its damnedest to diminish the status of the merchant seaman.

To go to sea in the 1960s, officers needed to be bright, intelligent and have the right attitude to hard work and long hours. Life at sea, back then, was not quite as the keen young applicants had seen it described in the brochures, but it did have status as a career. To be a ship’s officer was considered to be a prestigious occupation. Pay was fair, leave was not bad, and generally the life of a merchant navy officer was good. Officers had the services of a cabin steward to make beds and organise the everyday laundry of white uniforms. They were served five course meals in dining rooms by white coated stewards. Before containerisation, loading and discharging cargo was a lengthy process and while that practise kept the officer on deck overseeing the process, it also allowed for long periods of shore leave giving seafarers the opportunity to explore the country their ship was visiting.

Voyages away from home often lasted nine months or so but when an officer paid off the ship, he had a sizable amount of that most important commodity: sea time. Two or three trips away and you could come back to college and prepare for professional exams that led to that all important Certificate of Competency. Never, incidentally, called a ticket back then. Study time was paid for by the employer and students worked hard frequently helping each other to gain the pass needed to acquire the certificate.

The pride of attaining that level of competence and being issued with that black, hardbound, passport-sized Certificate of Competency made all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears seem worthwhile.

New ID photocard style certificates are now to be issued by the MCA.

The MCA describes the initiative as one that will move forward maritime innovation as it works to protect and support the seafarer.

Starting this February, UK seafarers and those working on UK-flagged ships fishing vessels and yachts will receive the new photocard certificates from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, wherever they are in the world.

In addition to the seafarer’s details and qualifications, the cards feature a QR code which links to the MCA certification database, allowing port officials and crew managers to immediately verify the credentials of the seafarer online.

The new style waterproof certificates will be issued for Certificates of Competency and Boatmasters’ Licences. Certificates of Equivalent Competency have been similarly redesigned and as part of the update will now be called Flag State Endorsement. The photocards will be issued to all new applicants, as well as those who were given temporary certificates on a renewal basis by the MCA to allow them to continue their vital work during the pandemic.

It is a change that comes as part of the UK Flag state’s wider commitment to modernise its services to seafarers. As well as issuing new cards, the agency will now be accepting digital copies of seafarer documentation, with a random sample requiring original documents.

The MCA claims to recognise value of seafarers work and believes the best way to do that, is to show that is providing practical support. In this case, they claim to be working quickly to adapt and modernise services for seafarers making the certification process much faster for them. They call it progress! But that’s not my definition!