Canada to issue CoR for Norwegian and French seafarers

A new Ship Safety Bulletin by Transport Canada issued today, outlines a recent agreement to recognize Certificate of Competency (CoC) issued to seafarers by Norway and France, under the Certificate of Recognition (CoR) program.

The purpose of this Ship Safety Bulletin is to advise owners and operators of Canadian registered ships and seafarers that the Maritime Administration of Canada has entered into a reciprocal arrangement with the Maritime Administrations of France and Norway.

These arrangements are subject to subsection 89 (1) of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 and Regulation I/10 of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978 (STCW Convention).

TC, SSB 15/2019

I like the wording of the first paragraphs of the bulletin, I believe it is designed to appease the “Canadian” ship owners. For me, I read the important word there, reciprocal. The reality is that Canadian Ship’s officers are now able to migrate their STCW compliant CoC into the EU. The majority of those countries offer no income tax on foreign going earnings, unlike Canada. Also, given that Canadian officers are already a bargain on the international trade, i.e. cruise ships, this may prove quite beneficial to young Canadian seafarers.

But I digress. Immigration is no easy matter, but given our global world now, this is an interesting development, and opens the door to more options for young Canadian marine professionals.

I suspect the true motive behind this move by Transport Canada is the ability for Norwegian and French shipowners, and their proxies in the Canadian aquaculture and offshore industries (Norway); and container, cruise, dredging (France), to maintain control of their assets by retaining “their” crews while operating in Canadian waters.

You can read the full Ship Safety Bulletin here. What do you think?