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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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Another seafarer scam uncovered07 July 2003
People have been able to purchase seafarer documentation from St Vincent & the Genadines flag - US Coast Guard uncovers US Coast Guard officials revealed long-standing breaches over seafaring certificates for crews working on St Vincent & the Genadines flag ships, last week. Fairplay reports some sharp-eyed Port State Control inspectors based on the US Caribbean island of Puerto Rico noticed about three years ago that seafarers had began turning up with STCW certificates issued by St Vincent and the Grenadines. But the flag registry is only allowed to endorse STCW certificates from other countries, not issue its own. Authorities then uncovered a network of mostly Caribbean seafarers without upgraded STCW qualifications, employed for inter-island trades on around 50 small coastal cargo vessels flagged with St Vincent and the Grenadines. These seafarers had bought STCW licences from the flag's St Vincent office - even though they lacked real qualifications. The matter was reported to the IMO, which was unable to do very much. "Finally, armed with confirmation from the flag's head office in Geneva that these seafarers' licences were invalid, the US Coast Guard began a crackdown late last week, and to date have detained 10 ships. They are circulating a list of another 30 or more ships they also believe have seafarers with invalid licences working on them," Fairplay reports.
For further information
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