I was discussing a new schedule with the company i work with and it would have me on 4 4hour shifts in addition to a couple 8 hour shifts. Maybe this is a dumb questions but I couldn’t seem to find an answer. Do 2 4 hour shifts on 2 different days count as a single 8 hour day at sea? or is it only 8 or more consecutive hours?
I might b wrong but I was allways told if ur paid for the day its a day of sea time regardless of how long u watch was.
As long as you’re signed on the vessel, you will get your sea time day for day. You could stay in your cabin for 90 straight days and get 90 days of sea time. If you’re on an ROS ship, its 1 for 3.
[QUOTE=scengineer;85886]As long as you’re signed on the vessel, you will get your sea time day for day. You could stay in your cabin for 90 straight days and get 90 days of sea time. If you’re on an ROS ship, its 1 for 3.[/QUOTE]
I think I may have been a little unclear. I work on passenger ferries. Not ideal I know but its a start. I currently do 3 8 hour days but was offered 4 more 4 hour shifts. So would these 4 days mean I got 4 days of sea time? Two days, or none. I read 8 hours counts as one 12 hours as 1.5
Seatime is based on watches. One full watch equals one day at sea. If your vessel is a three watch vessel then 8 hours is one full watch so technically 4 hours would be 1/2 of a seaday. If you’re on a two watch vessel, then it is only 1/3 of a seaday but these are just technicalities since many other vessels do not have a true watch on and off pattern such as ferries as you describe. The COI for your vessel should give a little more clarity on this. Does your ferry carry a mate as well as a master? Is it over 100grt?
The ferry is under 100 tons, generally runs one four hour shift during morning rush hour one four hour during evening. Some of the others go 8 hours and run the entire day. We have 1 captain, one senior deckhand and one deckhand.
As long as you can be found in the log and the USCG has a letter from your employer, don’t worry about it. They randomly check things and investigate things only when they get enough complaints.
I agree with BCMS. If your employer writes you a sealetter that treats all your shifts equally, that it, reports a number of days served, the four hour aspect won’t come up. You’ll get a seaday for every day you showed up to work and sailed.
I have seen, but cant find it now, a mention that the USCG generally considers 8 hours to be a seaday, but under certain circumstances allows less to count and stipulates 4 hours as the minimum.
From 46 CFR 10.107:
[I]Day[/I] means, for the purpose of complying with the service requirements of this subchapter, eight hours of watchstanding or day-working not to include overtime. On vessels where a 12-hour working day is authorized and practiced, each work day may be creditable as one and one-half days of service. On vessels of less than 100 gross register tons, a day is considered as eight hours unless the Coast Guard determines that the vessel’s operating schedule makes this criteria inappropriate, in no case will this period be less than four hours. When computing service required for MODU endorsements, a day is a minimum of four hours, and no additional credit is received for periods served over eight hours.
Sounds like u need to get with ur company and figure out what there willing/can do for u. Hope for the best, expect the worst