The procedures in opening/closing Crew Agreement, and informing crew changes.
The policies and procedures required to open the Crew Agreement, close the Crew Agreement and make crew changes.
Opening of Crew Agreement
Composition of Crew Agreement
The Crew Agreement consists of forms Marine 68A, 68B, 68C and 68D. Each form comes in two black and red colours. The black copy of the Agreement should be retained on board the ship. The red copy should be forwarded to the MPA Shipping Division.
Preparation of Crew Agreement
The Agreement is to be prepared as follows:
- Marine 68A
- This form is the front cover of the Agreement. The particulars of the ship shall be stated in the space provided at the top of the form. The particulars may be obtained from the Certificate of Registry.
- The trading area where the ship is playing, and the 12 or 24 months validity period of the Agreement are to be indicated.
- Insert any other conditions that is not contrary to the Merchant Shipping Act at the blank space on the right side of the form after the words “And it is also agreed that …”. Agreements containing conditions such as
- “See Additional Clauses”
- “As per individual agreement”
- “As per collective agreement”
must be accompanied by the appropriate documents. A copy of these documents must be endorsed and attached to the Crew Agreement. - The master shall furnish additional particulars required for the statutory safety, the load line certificates and the medical supplies certificate in the red copy of the Agreement.
- Marine 68B
- Any copy of the approved additional clauses, provision scale provided for the crew, employment contract or collective agreement shall be attached to this form.
- The master must certify that the clauses in the “Certificates or Endorsements made by Consular Officers or Director of Marine” page of the agreement had been read and explained in detail to the seamen. The Shipowner’s representative or any member of the crew must countersign the certification.
- Marine 68C
This form should contain particulars of persons under 18 years of age and apprentices employed on the ship.
- Marine 68D
This form should contain the particulars of all persons employed on a ship including the master and those persons listed in the form Marine 68C. masters should pay attention to the following details: - The full name of each seaman must be written in BLOCK LETTERS in the box “ENG”. This is where the seaman puts his signature when he is engaged.
- The “Ref No” column shall be inserted with serial numbers i.e. from Number 1 to Number 30 for a 30-man crew. The new seamen engaged will bear reference numbers from 31 onwards.
- The master shall witness the signature of each seaman and sign in the extreme right-hand column.
Accessibility of Crew Agreement
The master should ensure that a copy of the Agreement is accessible by the seaman. The salient features of the Agreement are included in “Form U”. The form shall be posted in a prominent place on board the ship.
Submission of Crew Agreement
The master shall forward the red copy of the Agreement upon completion to the MPA Shipping Division. The Agreement should be submitted together with the:
- terminated black copy of the previous crew agreement and the official log book (in the case of renewing crew agreement);
- officers’ Certificate of Endorsement number and tanker endorsement certificates (applicable for ships carrying Petroleum, Chemical and Liquefied Gas Products);
- valid Order On A Druggist certificate;
- contract of employment formed between the crew members and the owners, or Collective Agreements formed with the local unions;
- “List of Ratings” form (applicable for foreign going ship).
Renewal of Crew Agreement
The master must enter a statement in the narrative section of the Official Log Book that a new Agreement has been opened when renewing a crew Agreement. Particulars such as the date and place of opening the Agreement should be written. The Chief Officer or any other member of the crew must countersign the Log Book entry.
Expiry of Crew Agreement
An Agreement that has expired while the ship in on passage remains valid until the ship arrives at its next port of call.
Closing of Crew AgreementTermination of Crew Agreement
Each seaman must put his signature against his name in the box “RELEASE” on form Marine 68D to terminate the Agreement. The master shall witness the signature of each seaman and sign in the extreme right hand columns. The master should complete the boxes adjacent to the “RELEASE” box.
Certificate of discharge
Each seaman must be given a certificate of discharge regardless of whether he will be re-engaged.
Wages
A seaman must be given a statement of account of his wages upon his discharge.
Crews’ signed-off.
The master shall complete the four boxes at the bottom of form Marine 68A after the entire crew have signed-off.
Register termination in Official Log Book
The master must enter a statement in the narrative section of the Official Log Book that an Agreement has been terminated. Particulars such as the date and place of terminating the Agreement should be written.
Fines imposed on Seamen
Fines imposed on the seamen during his service onboard and covered by the Agreement should be sent by crossed cheque and paid to “MARITIME AND PORT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE”. The amount must always be in Singapore dollars before it is sent to the Shipping Division.
Crew Change
Informing crew change
The signing on or off of seamen may be witnessed by the master. The master will in turn inform the Shipping Division of the crew change via the electronic Form ENG 2A or the Marinet. All the information stated in the electronic Form ENG2A must be clearly indicated.
Related Shipping circulars:
Signing on of officers
The master must do the following to sign on officers:
- See the original CoC of the officer.
- Ensure that the officer possesses the original COE issued by the MPA. The officer’s COE number must be provided to the Shipping Division.
