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Oct 06 - Gibraltar Maritime Administration Surveyors And Technical Support Staff Complete Training

The Gibraltar Maritime Administration (GMA) recently carried out familiarisation training on THETIS and THETIS S for their marine surveyors and technical support officers. The training was held in Gibraltar at the Chamber of Commerce boardroom. It was led by Nick Hodgson from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, UK.

THETIS is a European database that was created by the European Maritime Safety Agency under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) for the purpose of targeting ships for inspection regimes. Gibraltar has 'White List' status under the Paris MoU for Port State Control.

The GMA has an obligation to carry out Port State Controls on all foreign ships coming into the Port. The GMA is required to carry out inspections in order to verify that the condition of these ships and its equipment complies with the requirements of international regulations and that the ship is manned and operated in compliance with these rules. THETIS assists in targeting and selecting the right vessel for inspection through continuous profiling of seagoing ships with harmonization of Port State Control procedures.

Familiarisation with the THETIS database enables GMA marine surveyors and technical support officers to become accustomed to the selection of ships eligible for inspection (by ship risk factor) and processing/producing the inspection report after the inspection has been carried out.

In addition to the THETIS database, this year, due to the EU Directive on Sulphur Levels on Marine Fuels, a new database very similar to THETIS (and therefore called THETIS S) has been developed by the European Maritime Safety Agency in order to record, along with Port State Control inspection, Sulphur Inspections on vessels visiting the Port of Gibraltar.

The THETIS and THETIS S familiarisation course was based on the application of EC Drective 1999/32/EC, EC Directive 2009/30/EC and EU Directive 2012/33. The reference to Gibraltar’s regulation is the Gibraltar Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Act 2001 as amended.

Minister Isola, responsible for Maritime Affairs, commented, “This is about bringing to bear quality of service in our obligations to carry out Port State Control inspections. The data contained in the databases will enable a new inspection regime to be implemented and will facilitate the planning of inspections carried out by the GMA. Via THETIS and THETIS S the reports undertaken by the GMA surveyors will be made available to all Port State Control authorities in the European Community and the Paris MoU regions.” 

Pic: GMA Chief Surveyor Rob Cumbes presenting one the GMAs Technical Support Officers, Ms Francesca Morillo, with her certificate of achievement on completion of the course.



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