Bureau Veritas has set up a web-based system which will help shipowners to cut certification time for the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 dramatically. BV says the system is needed because some shipowners are leaving it until late to seek the necessary MLC certification.

An addition to the services available to Bureau Veritas’ clients through the individual private section of its Veristar Info website will allow owners to create and clone the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance Part II, the main compliance document needed, across their fleets and to submit fleet-wide documents easily for review and certification.

Boris Gruden, MLC Implementation Leader for Bureau Veritas, says, “Shipowners have to have MLC documentation in place and certified by a Recognised Organisation before August 20 this year or risk detention of their vessels. Some have not even begun to work on this yet. They need to work with their flag states to have the norms for their fleet set out in a document DMLC Part I. Then for each ship they have to prepare a DMLC Part II which must be reviewed and certified by the RO, usually class. The DMLC Part II is built on the requirements set out by the flag state and is ship specific but most of it is the same for all ships in any one fleet. We have built a system to automate the process for the owner and to speed review. It is web-based, simple and quick. And owners need it right now because the deadline is looming.”

Bureau Veritas is recognised as an RO for MLC implementation by leading flag states. Says Gruden, “We have planned ahead for this to make life easier for owners and have trained a major workforce of auditors in MLC. They are ready to move, and with this new web-based software they can work even faster, so owners needing MLC approval can come to Bureau Veritas assured of speedy service. The deadline is close so they need to act now.”

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 58,000 employees in 940 offices and 340 laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.