NL 204/19|Panama Maritime Administration - Mandatory Annual SSAS Test
Company Security Officers (CSO) of companies operating Panamanian flagged vessels are reminded that PMA, as from January 1st, 2018 requires to carry out a mandatory annual SSAS TEST through the online platform in use from PMA, according to MMC-133 and the new MMC-371.
In case of vessel changes name, it will be necessary to schedule a new SSAS TEST, through the platform, in order to verify that the new name was programmed properly.
The Administration urges Companies, Company Security Officers (CSO), Ship Security Officers (SSO) and the Recognized Security Organization (RSOs) of Panamanian flagged vessels to verify and comply with this Resolution
and the MMC 133.
For ships to enter the Panamanian registry as of January 1st, 2018, they must schedule the first SSAS TEST through the use of the new platform, which must be verified by their RSO during the initial verification and from that date onwards, every 12 months. In those cases, it must also be ensured that the Company Security Officer designated by the Company Operator already has the Declaration of Company Security Officer duly endorsed by Panama Maritime Authority (as per MMC-206) in order to schedule the first SSAS TEST according to MMC 133.
PHRS, since January 2018, requires the verification of evidence of SSAS annual test records during Initial verifications onboard ships for which PHRS is the RSO, in accordance to the requirements set by PMA.
For further information on the actions to be taken by the CSOs, Ship-managers/owners/operators can also refer to PHRS Newsletter NL 192 of 2017 [ NL 192/17 | New Panama Flag Regulation for the use of the Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) ] and the attached MMC-133 and MMC-371.
Do not hesitate to contact us for any clarifications you may need on the above.
January 15th, 2019 - PHRS Head Office