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Gibraltar

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e-mail: maritime.survey@gibraltar.gov.gi
maritime.registry@gibraltar.gov.gi

Maritime Labour Notice (MLN) – 009(a)______________________________________________________________________________
To: Ship Owners, Operators, Masters, Officers and Classification Societies

MLC Title 2.3 Hours of work and hours of rest

This MLN provides guidance on compliance with Gibraltar regulations which give effect to MLC 2006 Title
2.3. Implementation of these guidelines will be taken as evidence of compliance with the Gibraltar
regulations.
The guidelines do not preclude the shipowner from demonstrating an equivalent or higher standard as an“alternative method” of evidence of compliance.

Documents referred to in this notice:
Maritime Labour Convention 2006
Gibraltar Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) Regulations 2012. Reg. 15
Most regulations and notices are available on the Gibraltar Government website; www.gibraltarship.com

Hours of work and hours of rest
1. General requirements1.1. The ship-owner, master and employer of a seafarer on board a Gibraltar ship must ensure that thenormal working hours’ standard for the seafarer is, in principle, based on an eight-hour day with
one day of rest each week and rest on public holidays.
1.2. “Hours of rest” means time outside hours of work and does not include short breaks.
1.3. The minimum requirement for hours of rest provided are:1.3.1.
1.3.2.

10 hours in any 24-hour period; and77 hours in any 7-day period.

1.4. The 10 hours of rest period may be divided into no more than 2 periods, one of which is to be atleast 6 hours in length, and the interval between consecutive periods of rest must not exceed 14hours.

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1.5. Gibraltar registered ships are required to follow these requirements and the exceptions to thehours of rest introduced in the 2010 STCW Manila amendments are not recognised by Gibraltar
Ship Registry until these come into force internationally
2. Drills and periods on call
2.1.

The ship-owner must ensure that:

2.1.1.

musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills are conducted in a manner that minimises thedisturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue, and;2.1.2.

if the seafarer’s normal period of rest is disturbed by call-outs to work, the seafarer has anadequate compensatory rest period.

If;
2.1.3.

no collective agreement, workforce agreement or arbitration award relates to theapplication of sub-regulation (5) to a seafarer, or;

2.1.4.

the Maritime Administrator considers that the provisions of such an agreement or award
are inadequate to ensure that the seafarer has sufficient rest;

2.2. The Maritime Administrator may, as he considers necessary, determine the requirements withwhich the shipowner, master and employer of the seafarer must comply as respects subregulation (5) in order to ensure that the seafarer has sufficient rest.
2.3. The master of a Gibraltar ship may;
2.3.1. require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of theship, of persons on board the ship or of cargo on board the ship, or for the purpose ofgiving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea;
2.3.2. in accordance with paragraph (a), may suspend the schedule of hours of rest until thenormal situation has been restored, and;2.3.3. must, as soon as possible after a normal situation has been restored, ensure that any
seafarer who has performed work in a scheduled rest period is provided with an adequate
period of rest.
2.4. Authorised exceptions to minimum hours of rest.
2.4.1. The Maritime Administrator may authorise collective agreements or workforce agreements
which:
2.4.1.1.

exceptions to the minimum hours of rest mentioned in regulation 15(2)(b), and;

2.4.1.2.

provide for exceptions to regulation 15(3).

2.5. A collective agreement or workforce agreement under sub-regulation (1)(a) must require that:
2.5.1. there are at least 70 hours total rest in any period of 7 days;
2.5.2. the exceptions provided for in the agreement do not apply in relation to a period of morethan two consecutive weeks, and;2.5.3. where the exceptions apply in relation to two periods separated by an interval, the interval
is at least twice the duration of the longer of the two periods;

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2.5.4. a collective agreement or workforce agreement under sub-regulation (1)(b) must requirethat the 10 minimum hours of rest mentioned in regulation 15(2)(a) are divided into threeperiods;
2.5.5. one of the three periods is at least 6 hours long and neither of the two other periods areless than one hour long;
2.5.6. intervals between consecutive periods do not exceed 14 hours each, and;2.5.7. the exceptions provided for in the agreement do not apply in relation to more than two 24hours periods in any 7 days period.
2.6. Exception for emergencies.
2.6.1. The master of a ship to which this regulation applies may require a seafarer to work any
hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo,or for the purpose of giving assistance to another ship or to a person in distress at sea.
2.6.2. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored the master mustensure that any seafarer who has performed work in hours of rest scheduled in the table
under regulation 17(1)(c) is provided with an adequate rest period.
3. Table of shipboard working arrangements
3.1. A table (or tables for different departments) of shipboard working arrangements shall be provided
to each ship, tabulating the anticipated daily working periods scheduled for all seafarers. This is toensure that expected routine working arrangements are made available for the awareness of thecrew. Due to the nature of service at sea some deviation from the schedule is to be expected, andsuch deviations will not necessarily indicate non-compliance with the minimum rest periods
required.
3.2. The table shall be prepared by the shipowner and be specific to each vessel. A standard format
has been established by the Gibraltar Ship Registry based on ILO Guidelines, and is provided
under Annex I, Model format of Table of Shipboard Working Arrangements.
3.3. Shipowners are free to develop their own company forms provided that at least the following
information is included:
3.3.1. entries for each position / rank of seafarer;
3.3.2. schedules of service at sea and in port, and;3.3.3. statement of the minimum hours of rest required.
3.4. In order to ensure awareness by all seafarers of the shipboard working arrangements, the table,
which should be in English, shall be posted in a place or places easily accessible to the seafarers
working onboard. The table must also be available for inspection by Gibraltar Ship Registryinspectors and port state control officers. The posting can be on a computer network that isavailable to all seafarers onboard if the ease of accessibility can be demonstrated to inspectors.

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4. Recording hours of rest
4.1. Each seafarer is required to maintain a record of his/her daily hours of rest, the principal purpose
for the record being to allow monitoring and provide documentary evidence of compliance with theminimum hours of rest requirements, and to record any deviations from the requirements
4.2. The Gibraltar Ship Registry has developed a standard format for the record of daily hours of rest,
based on ILO Guidelines, and is provided under Annex II, Record of Hours of Rest. As with thetable of shipboard working arrangements, shipowners are free to develop their own company
forms provided that such records maintain the required information.
4.3. The records of daily hours of rest shall be maintained in English to comply with having themavailable for inspection by Gibraltar Ship Registry inspectors and port state control officers. Eachseafarer shall receive a copy of the records, generally monthly, pertaining to him or her, whichshall be endorsed by the Master, or a person authorised by the Master, and by the seafarer.
5.

Electronic recording and storage
5.1. We are aware that increasingly ships are keeping records in an electronic format and this is anatural development. Shipowners may develop, or purchase, electronic systems that record thehours of rest for seafarers on their vessels and these systems should be as follows:
5.1.1. the format must be based on the ILO guidelines;
5.1.2. the electronic records must be accessible to all seafarer and are secure from unauthorizedalterations after entering;
5.1.3. there must be a means for the records to be endorsed by the seafarer and the Master;
5.1.4. there must be a means for the seafarer to receive a copy of their hour of rest records;
5.1.5. the system must be available for inspection by Gibraltar Ship Registry inspectors and port
state control officers.

6. Exceptions to minimum hours of rest allowed under MLC.
6.1. The exceptions must, as far as possible, follow the requirements relating to the minimum hours ofrest in the regulations, but may take account of;
6.1.1. more frequent or longer leave periods;
6.1.2. the granting of compensatory leave for watch-keeping seafarers, or seafarers working on
board ships on short voyages.

Dylan Cocklan
Maritime Administrator (Ag)
Issue date: 26 November 2020

All notices are available through www.gibmaritime.com

This copy of the Administrative Instruction has been sent electronically and does not carry a signature or official stamp. A signed andstamped copy will be available upon request

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Annex I
MODEL FORMAT FOR TABLE OF SHIPBOARD WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
Name of Ship:____________________________ IMO number: ______________________
Details of any equivalent arrangements set out in a collective agreement for the ship:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A copy of any equivalent arrangements set out in a collective agreement in place on this ship canbe found at:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Position/
Rank

Scheduled daily work hours at seaScheduled daily work hours inport

Watchkeeping

Non-watchkeeping
DutiesWatchkeeping

Nonwatchkeeping
Duties(from- to)(from- to)(from- to)(from- to)Totalhours ofwork atsea

Signature of Master _______________________ Date _________________SUMMARY OF HOURS OF REST REQUIREMENTS
In accordance with MLC 2006 the minimum hours of rest for all seafarers are:a. 10 hours in any 24 hour period; andb. 77 hours in any 7 day period.
Hours of rest may be divided into no more than 2 periods one of which shall be at least 6 hours in length.
The interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.
Nothing in this table or in regulations impairs the right of the master to require a seafarer to perform any
hours of work necessary in an emergency etc. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has been
restored the master shall ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period
are provided with a compensatory period of rest.

Page 5 of 6Totalhoursof workin PortAnnexII

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