HOW TO VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY OF A SAILOR’S CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY

The Certificate of Competency paper qualifies a sailor to become a competent watch keeper and subsequently, the head of his/her department onboard a ship.

The Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) had unveiled its online verification process for Seafarers’ Certificates of Competency (CoC) in 2014.

NIMASA is the administration of the Flag State- Nigeria. It is the apex Maritime regulatory body in Nigeria.

NIMASA collaborates with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to enable Shipping Companies and other stakeholders in the Maritime Industry to verify and authenticate the integrity of certificates presented to them by Seafarers.

The Innovation is aimed at providing quick and reliable response to interested parties regarding the integrity of a sailor’s certificate.

In time past, the agency’s response to such request was always time intensive. Such facts had contributed to the rise in unemployment among Nigerian CoC holders.

The Verification process initiative was part of the agency’s effort to ensure that its operations are in line with acceptable international practices.

Former Director General of NIMASA, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akopolokemi.

The International Maritime Organization through its STCW convention requires parties to maintain registers of certificates for Masters and Officers and to make information available on the status of such certificates and endorsements to other parties and companies which request verification of the authenticity and validity certificates produced by seafarers.

IMO collaborates with over 66 countries to provide such information. These countries include; Algeria, Bahrain, France, Honduras, Liberia, New Zealand, Palau, Croatia, Georgia, Turkey, Israel, china, Ukraine, Poland, Philippines, The Netherlands, The United States, The United Kingdom etc.

How TO verify a Certificate of Competency (CoC)

For a Nigerian CoC Holder;

• Obtain the CoC Number of the holder of such certificate.
• Visit the verification Portal. Click here
• Click on Summit.
• Download the attachment which will be in .pdf format.

The Attachment contains details which includes; A Passport Photograph of the seafarer with a CERTIFIED Stamp in red ink on it, Certificate Number, Name, Capacity, Limitation, STCW Reg, Date of Birth, Issue Date, Last Revalidation date, and Discharge Book Number.

For a Foreign CoC Holder;

All other CoC Issuing Counties have diverse methods for verifying a seafarer. These includes;

• Verification by the use of a sailors Date of Birth and the CoC number (Norway).
• Creating a Login detail (Jamaica) as an authentic employer before verification.
• By Entering the document number, credential type, Reference number and Last name of Mariner (The United States).
• By sending a mail of Request either by post or electronically to the issuing body (The United Kingdom, Ghana etc.).

To verify the authenticity of prospective candidate with Foreign License and/or CoC, Click here.

After thus, click on the country which issued the CoC to the Seafarer under Checks.

All Shipping Companies and other stakeholders in the Maritime Industry are advised to utilize the verification process to ascertain the authenticity of the CoC of the Seafarers.

A lot of authentic Seafarers are out there without Jobs, do not employ Fraudsters.

Echo Sailor