Bulletin 021 – BMSR Certificates of Endorsements Rev.2.0

Notice to: Shipowners, Operators, Officers, Flag State Inspectors and Recognised Organisations.

1.             References

a)              Barbados Merchant Shipping Act, 2024

b)              The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, (STCW Convention)

c)              The Seafarers’ Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code (STCW Code)

d)              MSC.1/Circ.1163/Rev.13 Parties to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, confirmed by the Maritime Safety Committee to have communicated information which demonstrates that full and complete effect is given to the relevant provisions of the Convention

e)              PPS01-F02: Seafarer Agent Appointment Form

f)               PPS01-F01: Application for Certificate of Endorsement and Seaman’s Record Book

g)              Circular Letter No.5019 – Communication From The Kingdom Of The Netherlands (Secretariat) – Notification on fraudulent activities

2.             Definitions

2.1           Certificate of Competency (COC)” means a certificate, issued, and endorsed by an STCW Convention Party for masters, officers and GMDSS radio operators in accordance with the provisions of Chapters II, III, IV or VII of the STCW Code and entitling the lawful holder thereof to serve in the capacity and perform the functions involved at the level of responsibility specified therein;

2.2           “Certificate of Proficiency (COP)” means a certificate, other than a certificate of competency issued by STCW Convention Party to a seafarer, stating that the relevant requirements of training, competencies or seagoing service in the Convention have been met;

2.3           “Endorsement (COE)” means a valid document that attests the recognition of a certificate issued by a STCW Convention Party in accordance with the provisions of the STCW Convention I/10, to acknowledge that a holder has the right to occupy a position on board of a Barbadian vessel.

3.             Purpose

3.1           This Bulletin is to provide:

.1                        The list of Administrations whose COCs and COPs are recognised by the BMSR under STCW Convention Regulation 1/10 and the list of relevant COEs issued by the BMSR;

.2                        To describe the application and issuance process of COEs and Seaman’s Record Books (SRB) for seafarers working on Barbadian vessels through the BMSR online platform Seafarer HQ (SHQ) system.

4.             BMSR COEs 

4.1           The list below, as per STCW Code Part B, Chapter I Table B-1/2, identifies all certificates that have to be addressed by the BMSR for seafarer who works on Barbadian vessels.

List of BMSR COEs

5.             Application for Barbadian COEs

5.1           Applications for Barbados COE are not accepted from individuals and shall be submitted by the Seafarer Agent, the company appointed by the vessel owners engaged in the employment, recruitment, or selection of persons for service on Barbados vessels.

5.2           Companies that wish to be recognised as Seafarer Agent for applying COEs as per Sec. 5.1 above shall submit the form  PPS01-F02 to stcw@barbadosmaritime.com

5.3           All seafarer applications shall be submitted via the BMSR SHQ. Once the application is submitted, a Confirmation of Receipt of Application (CRA) can be downloaded by the person submitting the application.

5.4           The Documents required along with the application form are:

.1                        Valid passport;

.2                        Medical Certificate (issued as per Sec. A-I/9 of STCW Code);

.3                        National COC and COP;

.4                        Recent Passport Size photo.

5.5           Details regarding applicable fees are provided on BMSR website: https://barbadosmaritime.org/registration/registration-fees/

5.6           Seafarers are permitted to serve on a Barbados vessel as soon as they have the CRA. The CRA is valid only for 3 months and cannot be extended.

5.7           The application shall be submitted for both COE and SRB uploading PPS01-F01 on SHQ. Applicants need to submit the listed documentation along with the application for the process to commence.

5.8           The validity of the COEs corresponds to the expiry date of the applicant’s National COCs and COPs. Where only the issue date is noted, BMSR will accept a validity of two years for individuals up to 65 and one year for those older than 65. For individuals over 65, an Endorsement will only be issued with a validity of one year, and it will only be renewed each year upon receipt of a new medical certificate.

5.9           Where an officer’s additional qualification consists of a separate CoC not recorded on the CoC submitted for recognition under STCW Regulations I/10, this additional qualification, if required and practicable, will be noted on the COE. While recording the additional qualification, the validity of the COE will still be issued based on the national COC’s validity.

5.10       The issuing Administration may record the GMDSS qualification in one of two ways.

.1                        The GMDSS can be included on the issuing Administration’s COC document, in which case the expiry of the COE is the date given on the issuing Administration’s COC document. 

.2                        A separate Certificate of Competency issued for the GMDSS qualification.  A separate COE is issued (for which an additional charge is applied) using the validity as per the issuing Administration GMDSS document.

5.11       Medical Certificates are acceptable only when issued in accordance with the provisions of STCW Sec. A-I/9 of STCW Code by Administrations having IMO (White list) recognition as listed in MSC.1/Circ.1163/Rev.13 or by approved BMSR medical practitioners.

5.12       Confirmation of the applicant’s identity, whether for a COE or an SRB, is done by the following actions:

1. The Crew Officer has to check that the information uploaded on SHQ is correct, verify on national websites and then issue COEs as per PPS01-F01;

2. The applying company’s Declaration of Authenticity is included in PPS01-F01, is signed and stamped by the Seafarer Agent; and Personal details entered on SHQ are cross-matched with PPS01-F01.

6.             Verification of Seafarer Documentation by Third Parties

6.1           Third parties may carry out verification of Seafarer Documentation by accessing the “Validate a Document” on the BMSR website https://portal.barbadosmaritime.org/certificate_validators or by scanning the barcode printed on each document.

6.2           Following Circular Letter No.5019 dated 06 May 2025, despite Sint Maarten being listed in MSC.1/Circ.1163/Rev.13 the BMSR does not accept COCs issued under the name of Sint Maarten.

7.             Administrations recognised by the BMSR   

7.1           The list of Administrations whose COCs and COPs are recognised by the BMSR, under STCW Convention Regulation 1/10 and based on MSC.1/Circ.1163/Rev.13, is outlined in the table below.