Vietnam’s regulations on watch standing of crew members

According to Circular No. 23/2017/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam, watch standing of crew members is specified as follows:

1. The master is the person responsible for running the 24-hour watch system. The chief officer, chief steward and chief engineer shall be responsible for assisting the master in checking the conformity of the department within their management with the watch system in accordance with regulations.

2. Watch standing is considered the duty of crew members and shall be sustained in a proper and efficient manner so as to ensure the safety, security and environmental pollution prevention aboard the ship. The watch system applicable to each crew member shall be divided into the offshore and onshore watch:

- Offshore watch period shall be 4 hours and each day is divided into 2 watches with 8-hour off-watch duration; in case there is any change to the time zone, the offshore watch period shall be decided by the master;

- The onshore watch period shall be decided by the master, depending on the specific conditions when the ship is at anchor.

3. The watchstanding crew member shall take on the following duties:

- Not leave the position or hand over the watch to others if there is no consent from the master, chief engineer or watchstanding officer;

- When noticing the alert, keep on standing watch, and be allowed to leave the position only if the substitute watch stander comes in accordance with the regulation laid down in the emergency task assignment;

- Write all of events that may happen in the watchstanding period into the logbook of the department where that crew member is working in accordance with regulations;

- Strictly prohibit crew members from doing other work which is not within their assigned tasks in the watchstanding period.

4. Watch transfer shall be made at the watchstanding site. The watchstanding officer is required to take over watch at least 15 minutes prior to the commencement of watch. Other crew members are required to take over watch at least 5 minutes prior to the commencement of watch. The watch-transferring crew member is required to notify the watch-receiving crew member at least 15 minutes prior to the commencement of watch.

The watch-receiving crew member shall accept watch duty only when the ship condition is entirely assessed. In case there is any action to be taken to prevent the ship from any danger, the transfer of watch duty shall occur only after such action is completed.

Where the watch-transferring crew member proves that the watch-receiving crew member is incapable of standing watch in an efficient manner, the watch-transferring crew member shall be entitled to refuse to transfer watch to the watch-receiving crew member and concurrently report this to the master.

5. Based on the technical condition and operational requirements of the ship, the master shall specify the watch system applicable to crew members who work in the radio communications, cooling system and electro-technical department aboard the ship.

View more details at Circular No. 23/2017/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam, effective from September 15, 2017.

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE