Panama Sanctions for vessels that deliberately deactivate the LRIT or the AIS

03 June 2020 |  C20028

DromonClass wishes to inform all parties concerned on the Panama issued MMN-09/2020 concerning the LRIT and AIS equipment.

NOTICE TO
Ship Owners/ Managers/ Operators | Surveyors / Auditors

Panama Maritime Authority has released MMN-09/2020 to remind Shipowners that sanctions will be imposed to all those Panamanian flagged vessels that deliberately deactivate, tamper or alter the operation of Long Range Identification and Tracking System (LRIT) or the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The sanction will apply in the same manner to all vessels that have been detained or restricted within jurisdictional waters of the Republic of Panama, and without authorization from the General Directorate of Merchant Marine, change position or engage on any commercial activity, and/or deactivate, tamper or alter the Long Range Identification and Tracking System (LRIT) or Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The General Directorate of Merchant Marine is monitoring all the fleet 24/7, so if the Long Range Identification and Tracking System (LRIT) or the Automatic Identification System (AIS) are down or not reporting, an automatic alert will be send to the Navigation and Maritime Safety Department (Fleet Control and Monitoring Section), where the personnel responsible will initiate an internal investigation of such alert, and if there is no technical support that justifies the missing report, it may culminate with sanctions that will be deemed appropriate. In some cases where the vessel is found having this conduct on regular bases could be de-flagged or deleted from the registry.

In this sense, an automatic alert is delivered to the vessel each time either the LRIT or the AIS System are not reporting or deliberately deactivated, tamper or alter as follows: “Dear Sirs: The General Directorate of Merchant Marine has detected that either the LRIT or AIS System of the vessel is not reporting, reason why we would like to know if there is any inconvenience with such equipment, otherwise an internal investigation will be initiate against the vessel based on the Resolution No. 106-048- DGMM dated August 19th, 2019. Your prompt reply to this message will be highly appreciated.”

It is mandatory, that the Long Range Identification and Tracking Equipment (LRIT) or the Automatic Identification System (AIS) keep functioning permanently and adequately, avoiding by all possible means that they stop transmitting information about the identity and position of the vessel. Otherwise the General Directorate may intervene with the corresponding sanctions.

Through the Resolution No. 106-048-DGMM dated on August 19th, 2019, the sanctions established for these actions, could lead up to $10,000.00 U.S. Dollars and/or the de-registration/de-flagged of the vessel from our Merchant Marine Fleet.

The Administration also, reminds Shipowners of ships that would like to be under Panama Flag, that through the Merchant Marine Notice MMN-03/2019 of July, 2019, is stated that Shipowners shall make the initial approach with the Panama LRIT provider, Pole Star Space Applications Ltd., S.A., in order to undergo the LRIT conformance Test, otherwise the LRIT provider will contact Shipowners shortly after the Registry Department of the General Directorate of Merchant Marine notifying them about the new vessel being registered under the Panamanian Flag.

Act now

Owners/ Managers/ Operators of Panamanian flagged vessels should take into consideration above information and to ensure the PMA Notice’s provisions are enforced on board in order to avoid in order to avoid further sanctions.