STCW Basic Training: When It Reaches You, and What It Then Requires

What the rule requires

First decide whether STCW reaches the mariner

The question in front of you is almost always about a small vessel on a domestic run, and the regulation answers it in three different ways depending on the vessel. Get the branch right before you go looking for training requirements.

Mariners serving on, and the owners or operators of, uninspected passenger vessels as defined in 46 U.S.C. 2101(42)(B) do not need to hold an STCW endorsement, because those vessels are small vessels engaged in domestic, near-coastal voyages and carry no further STCW obligation 46 CFR §11.301. That is the OUPV answer, and it is worth fixing in place: the quick reference table lists no firefighting requirement in the OUPV row at all 46 CFR §10.239.

A separate list of vessels is exempt from application of STCW outright: fishing vessels, fishing vessels used as fish-tender vessels, barges including non-self-propelled MODUs, and vessels operating exclusively on the Great Lakes or on the inland waters of the United States in the Straits of Juan de Fuca or on the Inside Passage between Puget Sound and Cape Spencer .

Then there is a third group, and this is where candidates go wrong. Masters, mates or engineers endorsed for small passenger vessels subject to subchapter T or K that operate beyond the boundary line, and those endorsed for seagoing vessels of less than 200 GRT other than subchapter H passenger vessels, are entitled to hold an STCW endorsement corresponding to the limitations already on the MMC, with no further obligation under STCW . Entitled to hold one is not the same as exempt from having one.

The four elements

Applicants for an STCW officer endorsement must provide evidence of meeting the standard of competence for basic training in personal survival techniques (STCW Code Table A-VI/1-1), fire prevention and firefighting (Table A-VI/1-2), elementary first aid (Table A-VI/1-3), and personal safety and social responsibilities (Table A-VI/1-4) 46 CFR §11.302. Instructors and schools shorten these to PST, FPFF, EFA and PSSR, and the schedule is the same four tables for a rating endorsement, presented with the application 46 CFR §12.602.

Basic training is itself a listed STCW endorsement, alongside advanced firefighting, PSC, PSC-limited, proficiency in fast rescue boats and the rest 46 CFR §10.109.

One practical consequence for the Master 100 GT candidate: current competency in STCW basic training under §11.302 satisfies the first-aid element of the original officer endorsement requirement in place of a Red Cross or Coast Guard-approved first-aid certificate, though a valid CPR certificate is still required separately 46 CFR §11.201.

The national endorsement comes first

An applicant for any STCW endorsement must hold the appropriate national endorsement unless otherwise specified , and the same condition governs ratings 46 CFR §12.601. There is no route that produces an STCW endorsement standing alone.

Five years, and two routes to keep it

Seafarers qualified at the operational or management level must provide evidence of maintaining the standard of competence for basic training every 5 years; ratings qualified under §12.601(a) are on the same 5-year cycle , .

Sea time will carry part of it. The Coast Guard accepts onboard training and experience, evidenced by 1 year of sea service within the last 5 years, for donning a lifejacket, boarding a survival craft while wearing one, initial actions on boarding a lifeboat, streaming a drogue or sea anchor, operating survival craft equipment and location devices, using self-contained breathing apparatus, performing a rescue in a smoke-filled space, and the whole of elementary first aid and PSSR .

Sea time will not carry the rest. Certain items are accepted only on evidence of approved assessment conducted ashore: donning and using an immersion suit, jumping safely from a height into the water, righting an inverted liferaft, swimming in a lifejacket, keeping afloat without one, and the practical firefighting evolutions — portable extinguishers, oil and electrical and propane fires, extensive fires with jet and spray nozzles, foam and powder, fire in smoke-filled enclosed spaces on SCBA, and the oil fire with fog applicator .

A mariner who cannot show that year in the last five must either meet the full standard again or complete approved or accepted refresher training. Advanced firefighting runs on the same 5-year clock with its own split between what sea service covers and what must be assessed ashore 46 CFR §11.303.

You hold an STCW endorsement and have 400 days of sea service in the last four years. Does that revalidate your basic training?

Partly, and not the part that fails candidates. More than 1 year of sea service within the last 5 years covers the onboard-trainable areas — lifejacket and survival craft work, SCBA use, the smoke-filled-space rescue, elementary first aid and PSSR. The immersion suit, the height jump, righting an inverted liferaft, swimming and floating drills, and every practical extinguisher and live-fire evolution are accepted only on evidence of approved assessment ashore . Sea service alone does not close those out.

Telling it apart

The criterion is what STCW obligation attaches to the vessel, and each of the three answers looks like the other two on a multiple-choice paper.

Exempt from application of STCW — the vessel type or trading area sits outside the Convention. Fishing vessels and fish tenders, barges including non-self-propelled MODUs, and vessels operating exclusively on the Great Lakes or inland U.S. waters, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, or the Inside Passage between Puget Sound and Cape Spencer 46 CFR §11.301. Most often misfiled: the Inside Passage, which is exempt from STCW application here but is credited toward near-coastal and STCW sea service 46 CFR §10.232.

Entitled to the STCW endorsement, no further obligation — subchapter T or K small passenger vessels operating beyond the boundary line, and seagoing vessels of less than 200 GRT other than subchapter H passenger vessels. The mariner holds an STCW endorsement matching the limitations already on the credential . Most often misfiled as an exemption, which reverses the answer.

No STCW endorsement needed — mariners on, and owners or operators of, uninspected passenger vessels under 46 U.S.C. 2101(42)(B). This is the OUPV case and it is stated in its own paragraph, separate from the exempt list .

Working a question

A candidate holds a national Master, near-coastal, of vessels less than 100 GRT. He has 30 months of deck service: 18 months near-coastal on a subchapter T boat running 25 miles offshore, and 12 months on inland waters. He wants the STCW endorsement as OICNW of vessels less than 500 GT limited to near-coastal waters.

Fix the governing section. Route near-coastal, vessel less than 500 GT, operational level — that is 46 CFR §11.321, which sets 24 months of seagoing service in the deck department on vessels operating in oceans, near-coastal waters or Great Lakes. The 36-month figure belongs to the unrestricted operational-level sections, so reading off §11.319 here overstates the requirement by a year.

Confirm the national endorsement. He must hold it before the STCW endorsement issues 46 CFR §11.201. Table 1 to §11.321(d) shows the entry path from Master oceans or near-coastal less than 200 GRT requires no additional service under the authority of that endorsement.

Credit the service. Inland waters other than the Great Lakes count day-for-day for up to 50 percent of the total required service 46 CFR §11.301. Half of 24 months is 12 months, so all 12 of his inland months are creditable and none is wasted. With the 18 near-coastal months, he has 30 creditable months against a 24-month requirement.

Do not plug a shortfall with a course. Had he come up three months short, the substitution of approved training for required service is not applicable to STCW endorsements unless provided otherwise 46 CFR §10.404. The 12-month approved-training-program route in §11.321(a)(1) is a separate path, not a top-up.

Document the competence. Section A-II/3 of the STCW Code applies at this level. The knowledge components may be documented by successful completion of the Coast Guard examination for the endorsement, an approved course, or an approved program; practical demonstrations come in as assessments approved or accepted by the Coast Guard . Competence may be shown at sea, as part of an approved course, or in approved simulators, and must be documented by Qualified Assessors Bowditch Pub. 9 Ch. 27 §2706.

Add the training list, basic training included. §11.321(a)(3) calls for medical first-aid provider, basic and advanced firefighting in accordance with §11.303, PSC or PSC-limited, and bridge resource management, with ECDIS, radar observer and ARPA required only if he serves on a vessel fitted with that equipment. Basic training in the four elements comes from 46 CFR §11.302 on top of that list.

Where candidates lose the point

An OUPV applicant answers that he must produce a basic training certificate, because the school that sold him the course sold basic training in the same package. Mariners on uninspected passenger vessels do not need an STCW endorsement, and with no STCW endorsement there is no §11.302 obligation 46 CFR §11.301. The first-aid and CPR requirement at §11.201(i) also carries stated exceptions, at §§11.429, 11.456 and 11.467 46 CFR §11.201.

Reading §11.301(g) as an exemption. A subchapter T vessel operating beyond the boundary line is in the group entitled to hold an STCW endorsement matching the credential's existing limitations, not the group exempt from application of STCW. Both paragraphs use the phrase "not subject to further obligation", which is what draws the eye to the wrong one.

Assuming a year at sea revalidates the whole of basic training. The immersion suit, liferaft righting, and live-fire evolutions are ashore-only assessments 46 CFR §11.302.

Treating an approved course as sea service on an STCW application. Substitution of training for required service does not reach STCW endorsements unless provided otherwise, and recency cannot be built from approved training or simulator time in any case, though underway service obtained inside an approved course does count for recency 46 CFR §10.404.

Crediting inland service past the cap. Great Lakes service counts day-for-day up to 100 percent of the total required; other inland navigable waters stop at 50 percent 46 CFR §11.211.

Answering 21 for the minimum age at the operational level. An endorsement as OICNW may be granted at 18 , and RFPNW requires not less than 16 46 CFR §12.605.

Check yourself

You run a six-passenger charter boat 40 miles offshore under an OUPV near-coastal endorsement. The mate asks whether you need STCW basic training to keep working. What is your answer?

No. Mariners serving on, and owners or operators of, uninspected passenger vessels as defined in 46 U.S.C. 2101(42)(B) do not need to hold an STCW endorsement, and basic training under §11.302 attaches to applicants for an STCW endorsement 46 CFR §11.301. The OUPV row of the quick reference table shows no firefighting requirement 46 CFR §10.239.

Name the four elements of basic training and the tables that set them.

Personal survival techniques, Table A-VI/1-1; fire prevention and firefighting, Table A-VI/1-2; elementary first aid, Table A-VI/1-3; personal safety and social responsibilities, Table A-VI/1-4 46 CFR §11.302. The list is identical for rating endorsements 46 CFR §12.602.

Your credential shows Master, subchapter T small passenger vessel, operating beyond the boundary line. Are you exempt from STCW?

No. You are entitled to hold an STCW endorsement corresponding to the service and other limitations already on the MMC, with no further obligation under STCW . Exemption from application of STCW covers a different list — fishing vessels, fish tenders, barges, and vessels operating exclusively on the Great Lakes, inland U.S. waters, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, or the Inside Passage.

You need 24 months of service for an operational-level near-coastal STCW endorsement and you have 20 months near-coastal plus 14 months on Chesapeake Bay. How much of the inland time counts?

Twelve months. Inland waters other than the Great Lakes are credited day-for-day for up to 50 percent of the total required service, and half of 24 is 12 . Total creditable service is 32 months, so you are qualified on service; the remaining 2 months of Bay time are surplus.

You are 8 months short on sea service for an STCW endorsement. Can you close the gap with a Coast Guard-approved course that carries equivalent service credit?

No. The provision allowing approved training to be substituted for required service applies to national deck and engineer endorsements and is not applicable to STCW endorsements unless provided otherwise 46 CFR §10.404.

Your basic training certificate is 4 years and 10 months old and you have been ashore for the last three years. What must you do?

You cannot use the sea service route, which requires 1 year of sea service within the last 5 years. You must either meet the full standard of competence for the four elements again or complete approved or accepted refresher training . The same applies to advanced firefighting if you hold it 46 CFR §11.303.

An 18-year-old deckhand with 7 months of watchkeeping service under the mate on a 900 GT vessel wants an STCW rating endorsement. Which one, and is he old enough?

Ratings forming part of a navigational watch, and yes. RFPNW on a seagoing vessel of 500 GT or more requires not less than 16 years of age and 6 months of seagoing service including navigational watchkeeping functions performed under the supervision of the master, mate, or a qualified STCW deck rating 46 CFR §12.605. Basic training under §12.602(a) must be submitted with the application. Able seafarer-deck is a further step, requiring RFPNW qualification plus 18 months of deck service, or 12 with approved training 46 CFR §12.603.