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Unfortunately, there are some training providers that issue STCW basic training certificates with expiry dates even though the qualification doesn’t technically expire. The new regulations are that the Fire Prevention & Fire Fighting module and the Personal Survival Techniques modules need revalidation. Elementary First Aid and PSSR do not actually expire or require revalidation though, and this is where the difficulty lies. If there is an expiry date on your Elementary First Aid and PSSR certificates (or on your STCW Basic Training certificate if all on one certificate), then were your vessel to have a control by the Port State authorities, this may well be an issue as officially speaking, the certificates look as if they are no longer valid. Therefore, many crew members in this position are choosing to take the complete STCW Basic Training again. In the end it is your choice whether to take the refreshers only or the full course again, but you may find some yacht management companies will enforce this. For the ’Updating Training’ for the STCW Basic Safety Training, we offer the Updated Proficiency in Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting and Personal Survival Techniques. As these two modules, A-VI/1-1.1 and A-VI/1-1.2, are the only two modules required to be updated by the STCW Manila Amendments. However, please note that if your First Aid and PSSR Certificates have expiry dates, they will be accepted by the MCA but, past that date, they may not be accepted by Flag State, Port State, Management companies or Insurance companies, so please check with your vessel if they have any issues.
As of 1st January 2017, if your STCW basic safety training certificate is 5 years old or over, you must update your training for your certificate to remain valid. Specifically, this applies to the Proficiency in Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting and Proficiency in Personal Survival Techniques modules of your STCW basic safety training. This directive doesn’t apply to the other modules. You can update your training by completing the full STCW basic safety training course again, or by completing a refresher course. The refresher courses are called ‘Updated Proficiency in Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting and Personal Survival Techniques’ and we offer them at all our training centres.
This directive also applies if you hold Proficiency in Advanced Fire Fighting and/or Proficiency in Advanced Sea Survival (OR Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats (Other than Fast Rescue Boats)). We run refresher courses for both of these (note: we run the refresher for the Advanced Sea Survival, now known as the Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats (Other than Fast Rescue Boats) RESTRICTED.
For medical certificate validity, see the next question.
All IAMI (deck) exam pass certificates last for 3 years from the date the examination took place. You must have sat your oral exam and have applied for your CoC before they expire. If you fail to apply for the CoC before your exam pass certificates expire, you would need to obtain a new exam pass certificate by resitting the exam only. If, however you fail the exam, you would be required to complete the full course again for another opportunity to take the exam.
SQA (engineering) pass certificates last for 3 years, and you can retake the exam as many times as necessary to obtain an exam pass.
On successful pass of an SQA exam, the exam pass certificate is valid for 3 years from the date the examination took place, during which you would need to apply for the appropriate CoC.
The Medical Care at Sea certificate is valid for 5 years, after which you would need to update your medical training. This can be done with a Medical Care at Sea course or a Medical Refresher course. As Captain, or the designated medical person in charge, your medical certificates should always be in date. However, you do not need to send this certificate when you revalidate your MCA CoC.
The RYA requires a certificate of updated medical training within the last 5 years to revalidate a commercial endorsement. Please refer to the question ‘How do I revalidate the commercial endorsement on my RYA certificate?’ to find out how to revalidate a commercial endorsement.
Send the following to:
MCA (Seafarer Training & Certification), Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG, U.K.
• application form MSF 4201 (to download the form, refer to the question ‘How do I download MCA application forms?’)
• original certificate of competency
• 2 x passport photos (One certified, the other with your name and date of birth)
• sea service testimonials and discharge book, or PYA/Nautilus Service Record Book (indicating 12 months on board yacht service in the last five years or 3 months on board yacht service in the last 6 months).
• Masters: If you do not submit a PYA/Nautilus Service Record Book then you must provide a company letter verifying at least 12 months of your sea service.
• courier fee of £56.00 (EU) or £66.00 (Rest of the World)
• Evidence of having completed the basic (and advanced if applicable) updated proficiency safety courses in the last 5 years
• valid ENG1 medical certificate (or accepted equivalent)
• deck officers only: GMDSS GOC/ROC (as applicable)
• deck officers only: ECDIS certificate (if not supplied, you will receive a negative endorsement)
• engineer officers only: High voltage course completion certificate (if not supplied you will receive a negative endorsement)
Additional information can be found in MSN 1861(M)
Send the following to:
MCA (Seafarer Training & Certification), Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG, U.K.
Tel: +44 2380 329 231
• application form MSF 4353 (to download the form, refer to question 'How to download MCA forms')
• original GMDSS licence
• proof of 12 months’ sea service (testimonials/log book) within the last 5 years
• courier fee of £20.00 (EU) or £30.00 (Rest of the World)
• valid ENG1 medical certificate (or accepted equivalent)
Send the following to:
Royal Yachting Association, RYA House, Ensign Way, Hamble, Southampton, SO31 4YA, U.K.
Tel: +44 2380 604 100
• commercial endorsement revalidation form (can be obtained from the RYA website)
• original RYA certificate (Yachtmaster Offshore/Ocean, Powerboat Level 2, etc.)
• 1 passport photo
• valid ENG1 medical certificate (or accepted equivalent)
• proof of sea-time (at least 150 days of actual sea service during the last 5 years)
• Professional Practice and Responsibilities (PPR) online test or MCA issued deck CoC
• fee of £34.00 (plus £25.00 for fast track service)
• Elementary First Aid certificate from the last 5 years (or accepted medical equivalent)
On the UK government services website: www.gov.uk, use the large search box to find the relevant application code.
It is valid for 5 years or 3 years following successful completion of an oral exam. The examination pass certificates must be less than 3 years old for issue of the CoC.
Yes, the MCA recognises STCW endorsed certificates from other countries, provided that they have inspected and approved the training system in that country.
You should check the MCA website for an updated list of countries currently recognised: Click Here. If your country is recognised, you can apply for a Certificate of Equivalent Competency (CEC). The MCA should issue a CEC with the same limitations as the original certificate.
Send the following to:
MCA (Seafarer Training & Certification), Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton SO15 1EG, U.K.
• application form MSF 4203 (to download the form, refer to the question ‘How do I download MCA application forms?’)
• non-UK Certificate of Competency
• deck officers only: GMDSS certificate
• passport or discharge book
• evidence of competency in English language (see the guidance notes in the application form for details on this)
• 2 x passport photos (One certified, the other with your name and date of birth)
• fee of £76.00 (EU/Worldwide)
Helpline: +44 2380 329 231. You don’t need to wait for the operator to ask you questions, you can just select 1 for Deck/GMDSS, select 2 for Engineering or Safe Manning, or select 3 for Certificates of Equivalent Competency. Alternatively, you can email them on deck@mcga.gov.uk, engineering@mcga.gov.uk, or cec@mcga.gov.uk.
There are 4 doctors in France who can issue ENG1 certificate (or a MCA accepted ML5 medical certificate);
Dr Patrick Ireland & Dr Christopher Besse
Le Forum, 1913 Route de Cannes, Valbonne, 06560, Tel: +33 493 12 95 66
Michel Lauzel - The English Osteopath
4 Rue Vauban, 06600 Antibes, Tel: +33 493 34 67 17 I www.englishosteopath.com (please book online)
Dr C Trim-Cauchois
Yacht Club de Monaco, Espace Calypso (Belle Classe Academy), Quai Louis II, 98000 Monte-Carlo, Tel: +33 643 91 75 79, Email: drcauchois@gmail.com
Dr Bruno Lavagne
“Le Vendome” C, 4 Chemin du Tanit, Juan Les Pins, 06160, Tel: +33 493 67 03 07
In Spain you can go to;
Dr Amit Bajpai
British Medical Centre, Calle ses Planas, 7 Bajo, 07181 Palmanova, Calvia Mallorca, Tel: +34 971 683 511 I clinic@britishmedicalcentre.com
Dr Johanna Clark
Club de Mar Medical, Gabriel Roca 44/Calle Ses Rafaletes, 1A, Building Torremar/Edif B, Planta PR, Locat 2 IZQ, 07015, Palma de Mallorca, Tel: +34 619 982 142 I info@clubdemarmedical.com
In Fort Lauderdale you can go to:
Dr E Grenet
Health Medical Centers, 1489 SE 17 Suite 2, 2nd Floor Southport Shopping Centre, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
Tel: +1 954 525 7595 I www.healthmedcenter.net
For a full list of doctors worldwide see www.gov.uk and search 'MCA approved doctors'.
Visit www.gov.uk and search for ‘MSF 4509’, to download the application form. The cost to apply is £40.00.
For externally moderated OOW 3000gt and Master courses, you may resit the failed exam as soon as you can organise a date with your training provider. You must resit any failed exam within 12 months of sitting the original. If you fail a second time, you must retake the whole course before re-attempting the exam. For externally moderated Engineering courses, you are able to resit the exam as many times as necessary without having to retake the course, up to 3 years following the date of the course completion certificate.
Carefully! All tasks are to be completed and signed off by your Captain. None of the tasks should be signed off at the same time. If you are the Captain, you can sign the tasks off yourself, but the MCA will require, with your application for OOW 3000gt, a letter from someone higher up than yourself, i.e. owner, management company or PYA, explaining why you have self-assessed. TRBs should be filled in over a one to three year period. Dates must correspond to time on vessels, with corresponding testimonials. Don't sign off tasks all on the same date. See page 89 of the Crew Training Manual for further details.
The PYA is authorised by the MCA, through the PYA ISO quality management standards, to verify sea service using the PYA Service Record Book (SRB). Your certificates and sea time (both present and retrospective experience) will be carefully checked and approved before being stamped into the SRB by the PYA.
This depends on whether you are qualified in a mechanical trade (diesel mechanic, fitter, etc.). If you trained outside the UK you will need a letter from the marine administration of the country where you did the trade saying that they would recognise your trade as relevant for the issue of STCW Engineering certificates. You will still need to contact the MCA for a Letter of Initial Assessment, outlining your qualifications and sea time/yacht time.
Yes! You will not get a job on a charter yacht without a STCW basic safety training, and it is required by the vast majority of private yachts. Any MCA coded yacht over 500gt will require all crew to hold a STCW basic safety training certificate.
Unfortunately, no, even though the MCA recognises both RYA and IYT qualifications, the RYA will not accept the IYT Yachtmaster Offshore as a pre-requisite for obtaining the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean Theory course. You would have to complete the IYT equivalent.