The purpose of this letter is to remind you that 1 May 2016 deadline for your vessel to re-flag to New Zealand is rapidly approaching.

While this may sound like a lot of time, re-flagging has taken about nine months on average for vessel operators to complete from when they first submit documents to Maritime New Zealand. It may take even longer if your vessel and its operation need significant work to comply with New Zealand maritime and ship registration requirements. Any delay in commencing the process beyond 30 June 2015 may therefore lead to you being unable to fish in New Zealand waters after 1 May 2016. Please note that this requirement is absolute. The Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2014 does not allow for any exemptions or exceptions in your circumstances.

Transition period until 1 May 2016.

The Government recognised the complexity of the reflagging process and the significant impact of the legislative changes on your business by allowing an extended transition period up until 1 May 2016. This was intended to give you sufficient time to either ready your operation for re-flagging, or to instead develop alternative business arrangements for your vessel and operation.

Both Maritime New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries have been working with vessel interests since 2012 to facilitate re-flagging. This has included:

·  Industry forums to advise re-flagging requirements

·  Meetings with New Zealand charterers and foreign vessel owners at group and individual level

·  Provision of information packs, including guidance on maritime rule requirements and application forms

·  Offers of Maritime New Zealand liaison visits to vessels to provide an appreciation of any work that may be required to comply with New Zealand maritime rules

·  Contacting overseas administrations for details of their maritime qualification frameworks, and working actively with those administrations to assess training competency levels.

·  Developing operational policy to allow the use of interpreters for examinations for recognition of foreign engineering and advanced deck hand fishing certificates on non-English speaking vessels.

Recommended actions before 30 June 2015.

We have not yet received an application to re-flag your vessel. If you intend to continue fishing in New Zealand, we strongly recommend that you address the following five critical actions no later than 30 June 2015.

  1. Lodge an application for registration as a New Zealand ship, including your new charter party agreement. It is important that you lodge this early so we can review the documentation and provide you sufficient time to make any changes that may be required for your commercial arrangements to comply with the Ship Registration Act 1992.
  2. Provide Maritime New Zealand with the vessel, names, position on board, and current copies of certificates of competency and ancillary certificates for each current crewmember who intends to apply for recognition of their foreign certificates or qualifications to continue serving on the vessel after 1 May 2016. This information should be sent to:

Alexis Bannister

Senior Advisor Personnel Certification

Maritime New Zealand

PO Box 25620

Wellington 6146

Email:

  1. Complete a preliminary crewing assessment to identify whether there are any likely gaps between your current crewing configuration and New Zealand minimum crewing requirements in Maritime Rules Part 31: Crewing and Watchkeeping
  2. Arrange for an approved examiner to assess the English language ability of any crew that wish to apply for recognition (and arrange remedial training if required)
  3. Contact your surveyor to undertake a gap analysis to verify whether your vessel meets all the applicable requirements in Maritime Rules Part 40D: Design, Construction and Equipment – Fishing Ships.
The re-flagging process

As previously advised, you will need to complete the following three work streams in order to re-flag your vessel:

1. Compliance with the Ship Registration Act 1992

A key aspect of the reflagging process involves moving from a ‘time’ charter to a ‘demise’ charter. This means that the underlying contractual arrangements between the vessel owner and New Zealand charterer must be sufficient to ensure that the New Zealand charterer has effective control of the vessel, including the right to appoint the master and the crew. Given that this will most likely involve a fundamental change in the existing business relationship, this process should already be well advanced.

Please find attached/enclosed our Guidance for Registering Commercial Ships over 24m in Length in the New Zealand Register of Ships. This sets out the documents required to complete the registration.

Further information on ship registration requirements can be found on our website:

http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Commercial/Ship-registration/Ship-registration-in-New-Zealand.asp

2. Meeting New Zealand minimum crewing requirements
English language requirements

If you do not intend to crew the vessel with New Zealand certificate holders, your planning should already be well advanced to ensure that your existing crew are able to pass the required oral examination for recognitions, including that their English ability is sufficient to the level required for the certificate they seek. While Maritime New Zealand is working closely with the Japanese [or Korean as applicable] administration to determine possible equivalent certificates, the requirement for crew to be able to converse at an appropriate English level for their certificate will not change and will be tested as part of any recognition process. It is therefore critical to the success of your re-flagging project that you take steps to identify any issues your crew may have communicating in English, and arrange any remedial training that may be required.

Appropriate crew configuration and qualifications

The New Zealand minimum crewing requirements are specified in Maritime Rules Part 31: Crewing and Watchkeeping. The tables in Part 31.64 (see pages 19 to 21) set out the minimum crewing requirements for New Zealand fishing vessels, as well as setting out the New Zealand certificate of competency required for limit in which you intend to operate.

Maritime New Zealand will contact you in the coming weeks to update work with the Japanese administration [or Korean as applicable] to determine possible recognition pathways for holders of Japanese [or Korean as applicable] certificates. However, you should already have conducted a preliminary crewing assessment against Part 31.64 to identify obvious gaps between your current crew configuration and New Zealand requirements. For example, some operators have found that they will need to recruit or train crew to serve as advanced deck hands on New Zealand vessels

3. Maritime Operator Safety System and Health and Safety Compliance

Your vessel may already be in possession of a Safe Ship Management Certificate which entitles it to operate commercially. When this certificate expires you will be required to enter the Maritime Operator Safety System (MOSS) and be in possession of a Maritime Transport Operator Certificate (MTOC). This system is a change from the present Safe Ship Management system you may have been operating under and would require you to develop and maintain your own safety system called a Maritime Transport Operator Plan (MTOP). MOSS guidance and application forms can be found on our website:

http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Commercial/Safety-management-systems/MOSS/default.asp

At your next out of water survey your vessel will be inspected by a Maritime New Zealand recognised surveyor and issued with a Certificate of Survey. The surveyor is required under MOSS to survey to the standard of Maritime Rule Part 40D and write a survey report. This survey will include the survey of the hull, deck, machinery, fish factory piping insulation for presence of asbestos, refrigeration plant, machinery space, lifting appliances, safety equipment, and fire fighting equipment. Please contact your surveyor to undertake a gap analysis to verify whether you meet all the applicable requirements in Part 40D. In addition each ship will require a Survey Plan, a Maintenance Plan, a Safety Equipment and Spare Part List. Templates for these can be found on our website

http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Commercial/Safety-management-systems/MOSS/MOSS-for-operators/form-templates-guides.asp

The MOSS system requires the operator to ensure a safe and pollution free operation and to be a “fit and proper person” as required by the Maritime Transport act 1994. As part of entry into MOSS the fit and proper persons will be spoken to with a view to ensuring they understand their responsibilities under MOSS and that they have a system to discharge these responsibilities.

You will also need to understand your responsibilities under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. This requirement will apply to you as the employer. Maritime New Zealand will check your vessel and your safety system to verify whether you are discharging these responsibilities.

Additional support and assistance

Maritime New Zealand remains available to support you through the re-flagging process and has appointed Ken Wyatt as the industry liaison point should you have any questions regarding ship registration, MOSS, seafarer certification or Health and Safety obligations related to operating your vessel under New Zealand flag.

Ken can be contacted on or phone 0275 335 460

Yours sincerely

Sharyn Forsyth

General Manager Maritime Standards

Enclosures:

1.  Guidance for Registering Commercial Ships over 24m in Length in the New Zealand Register of Ships.

2.  Maritime Rules Part 31: Crewing and Watchkeeping

3.  Maritime Rules Part 40D: Design, Construction and Equipment - Fishing Ships

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