Subject

The Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) Test for the

Panamanian Flagged Vessels
Technical
Information
No. TEC-1137
Date 28 November 2017
To whom it may concern

Marchant Maritime Circular MMC-133 was revised and circulated by the Panama Maritime Authority
recently (October, 2017). From January 1st 2018, the Panama Flagged Vessel is to be required to carry
out the annual SSAS TEST using an electronic platform.
The summary of instructions are as follows.

1. From November 30th, 2017 all the CSO that have already sent the Validation Form or applied
through the CSO Endorsement online application by the website (link:
http://certificates.amp.gob.pa/certificates) will receive an email from [email protected]
with their credentials and the instructions for the use of an electronic platform.
The Panama Maritime Authority will receive the Validation Form until December 15, 2017.
After this date, please make the endorsement or revalidate the information through the online
application.
2. The operators and/or owners of the Panamanian registry vessels through the CSO have the
responsibility to schedule, through the platform, the annual tests of SSAS TEST in a period no
longer than twelve (12) calendar months.
3. The confirmation message of the annual SSAS TEST should be retained on board as evidence
according to paragraph 24 of this MMC.
4. For ships to enter the Panamanian registry as of January 1st, 2018, they must schedule the first
SSAS TEST through the use of the new platform, which must be verified by their RSO during the
initial verification and from that date onwards, every 12 months.
5. Only one annual SSAS TEST is mandatory. In case of vessels that perform more than one test and
require a flag confirmation they should not schedule it through the platform.
6. All the Panamanian flagged vessels described in paragraph 3 of the Resolution
No.106-107-DGMM must keep the email address [email protected] (main) in their SSAS
terminal. The use of [email protected] is optional.

Please especially note that in case of noncompliance with these regulations, the Panama Maritime
Authority may impose the sanctions.
In addition, in case where it is necessary to amend the part of operations of SSAS (including annual
test) in the Ship Security Plan (SSP), the amendments to SSP is required to approve. Please apply for
the approval to your convenient ClassNK office nearby.
(To be continued)

NOTES:

 ClassNK Technical Information is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to its readers.
 ClassNK, its officers, employees and agents or sub-contractors do not warrant the accuracy of the information contained
herein and are not liable for any loss, damage or expense sustained whatsoever by any person caused by use of or
reliance on this information.
 Back numbers are available on ClassNK Internet Homepage (URL: www.classnk.or.jp).
 ClassNK Technical Information No. TEC-1137

For any questions about the above, please contact:

NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI (ClassNK)

Ship Management Systems Department, Administration Center, Head Office
Address: 4-7 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8567, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5226-2173
Fax: +81-3-5226-2174
E-mail: [email protected]

Attachment:
1. Marchant Maritime Circular MMC-133

2
Attachment 1. to
ClassNK Technical Information No. TEC-1137

PanCanal Building
PANAMA MARITIME AUTHORITY Albrook, Panama City
Republic of Panama
MERCHANT MARINE CIRCULAR MMC-133 Tel: (507) 501-5348
[email protected]

To: Ship-owners/Operators, Company Security Officers, Legal Representatives of

Panamanian Flagged Vessels, Panamanian Merchant Marine Consulates and
Recognized Organizations (ROs).

Subject: NEW REGULATION FOR THE USE OF THE SHIP SECURITY ALERT
SYSTEM (SSAS)

Reference: SOLAS 74’, as amended, Regulation XI-2/6

Resolution MSC. 136 (76) December 11, 2002
Resolution MSC. 147 (77) May 29, 2003
MSC/Circ. 1072 June 26, 2003
MSC/Circ. 1155 May 23, 2005
MSC.1/Circ.1190 May 30, 2006
Resolution J.D. No. 028-2003
Resolution No.106-107-DGMM October 9, 2017

1. The purpose of this Merchant Marine Circular is to update the instructions and procedures of the
Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) according to SOLAS 74’, as amended Chapter XI-2 Reg. 6
and the IMO Resolution MSC 136(76) as amended by MSC 147(77), MSC/Circ.1072,
MSC/Circ.1155 and MSC.1/Circ.1190. Any deficiency related to the ship security alert system
(SSAS), is a failure of compliance with the ISPS Code and the ISM Code.

2. According of Section 9 Part A of the ISPS Code, each ship requires to implement a Ship Security
Plan (SSP) approved by its Flag State or by a Recognized Security Organization. The SSP must
include but not limited to: “Procedures, instructions and guidance on the use of the ship
security alert system, including testing, activation, deactivation, resetting, and procedures to
limit false alerts”.

3. All the Panamanian flagged vessels shall be provided with a SSAS, as instructed in the SOLAS
74’, as amended (Chapter XI-2 Regulation 6, paragraph #1). The SSAS shall be capable of
transmit a security alert to a designated, competent authority when activated in an emergency
situation. As the ship security alert system is a requirement of SOLAS 74’, as amended Chapter
XI-2, it is not considered to be radio equipment; thus not covered by the Safety Radio Survey and
the Safety Radio certificate is not affected. Any deficiency in relation to the ship security alert
system; however, is a failure of compliance with the ISPS Code and the ISM Code, as mentioned
before.

4. Ship-owners or operators are required to notify the RSO prior to installing SSAS equipment. In
all cases, the RO responsible for the issue of the Safety Radio Certification shall be responsible
for the initial installation, inspection and testing of the SSAS by an approved radio technician.

5. The Company and the Company Security officer (CSO) are requested to continuously verify that
the SSAS equipment on board of the Panamanian Flagged vessels have been correctly set to send
the security alert or test messages to the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA).

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Special instructions in HRA

6. The PMA recommends that all Panamanian Flagged vessels with or without armed or unarmed
security personnel, and that prior to the entry into the High Risk Area (HRA), the crew should be
fully briefed on the preparations and a piracy drill shall be conducted as well. The security drill
should be reviewed and all personnel briefed on their duties, including familiarization with the
alarm using to identify a piracy attack, these drills must follow all the requirements listed above,
indicating that it is a “Piracy Drill” or “SSAS Test” and must be reported to the aforementioned
PMA contacts as well; at the same time the Panamanian Flagged vessels are requested to verify
that the SSAS equipment have been correctly set-up and is working properly.

7. These measures should be taken to ensure that the security procedures are working properly along
with the recommendations stated in the Best Management Practices BMP4 and the Internationally
Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) established in the Merchant Marine Circulars No. 208 and
No.238.

SSAS TESTING by the Company

8. All the Companies must include the following e-mail addresses as recipient’s address of the SSAS
alerts / tests, on board the Panamanian Flagged vessels.
 [email protected]
and / or
 [email protected]

9. A pre-authorization from Panama Maritime Authority to carry out a SSAS Test or drill, is not
required.

10. The Panama Maritime Authority will only confirm the SSAS Test messages as requested by
the Company or Master. In such cases, the word “TEST” will be clearly noted within the
message.

11. The SSAS messages (alerts / tests) must include at least the following information:
 Name of ship
 IMO number
 Call Sign
 Maritime Mobile Service Identity Number
 Date and time in UTC
 GNSS position of the ship (latitude and longitude)
 Course and speed

12. In case that the message received indicates the words SSAS ALERT or SECURITY, the
PMA will require a confirmation about the status of the ship and the crew.

13. When the ship security alert system (SSAS) during a test transmits a false alarm, the Company or
the Company Security Officer (CSO) must inform immediately to the Maritime Ships Security
Department (PMA) in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

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 NEW REGULATIONS FOR SSAS TEST MESSAGE

According to Resolution No.106-107-DGMM dated October 9th, 2017 from January 1st, 2018
(Spanish version or English version) the annual SSAS TEST will be received through the use of an
electronic platform for the Supply and Operation of the Ship Identification and Monitoring System. (This
resolution will be posted in English once it is translated).
From November 30th, 2017 all the CSO that already send the Validation Form described in MMC 353 or
apply through the CSO Endorsement online application by the website link:
http://certificates.amp.gob.pa/certificates will receive an email from [email protected] with their
credentials and the instructions.

We will receive the Validation Form until December 15, 2017. After this date, please make the
endorsement or revalidate the information through the online application.
The operators and/or owners of the Panamanian registry vessels through the CSO have the responsibility
to schedule, through the platform, the annual tests of SSAS TEST in a period no longer than twelve (12)
calendar months. The confirmation message of the annual SSAS TEST should be retained on board as
evidence according to paragraph 24 of this MMC.

For ships to enter the Panamanian registry as of January 1st, 2018, they must schedule the first SSAS
TEST through the use of the new platform, which must be verified by their RSO during the initial
verification and from that date onwards, every 12 months as mentioned in previous paragraphs. In those
cases, please be sure that the Company Security Officer designed by the Company Operator already has
the Declaration of Company Security Officer duly endorsement by Panama Maritime Authority (MMC
206) in order to schedule the first SSAS TEST.

Only one annual SSAS TEST is mandatory. In case of vessels that perform more than one test and require
a flag confirmation they should not schedule it through the platform, in those cases they also have to use
the below SSAS TEST message information and send an email directly to [email protected].

All the Panamanian flagged vessels described in paragraph 3 of the Resolution No.106-107-DGMM must
keep the email address [email protected] (main) in their SSAS terminal. The use of
[email protected] is optional.

The vessels that have been granted a Certificate of Exemption from the use of the SSAS in accordance
with paragraph 27-29 of this MMC and the Panamanian flagged vessels that are out of service during a
calendar year and have a Certificate of Special Registry of Laid-Up are excluded of the present
Resolution.

ANNUAL SSAS TEST MESSAGE

The SSAS TEST messages must include the following information:

1. TESTs must be sent via email, using ASCII, UTF-8 or ANSI encodings to the following address:
[email protected].

Name of vessel
The name of the vessel must be written in closed capital letters and should appear exactly as it is written in
the Navigation Documents.

IMO number
It must contain 7 digits and may be preceded by the word "IMO".
Mobile Maritime Vessel Identifier
The MMSI must contain 9 digits, which cannot be separated by spaces, dashes or other characters.

Call Sign
It must contain between 4 and 7 digits and must appear exactly as it is written in the ship's registration
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patent. Do not use spaces, hyphens or other characters other than letters and numbers.

Date and time

The date can be represented in any of the following 3 formats:

• DD-MM-YYYY
• MM-DD-YYYY
• YYYY-MM-DD
• For which "DD" represents the day, "MM" represents the month and "YYYY" represents the year. The
separators can be slashes, points or dashes.
• The time can be represented in any of the following 2 formats:
• HH: MM
• HH: MM: SS
• For which "HH" is the hour expressed in 24-hour format, "MM" represents the minutes and "SS"
represents the seconds. All times must be submitted according to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Coordinates of the position of the vessel at the time of the SSAS test.
The coordinates can be expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, degrees and decimals of minutes or in
decimals of degrees and additional should indicate the hemisphere.
• Separators between grades, minutes and seconds can be:
- The symbols for degrees, minutes and seconds (° '")
- Two points (:)
- Spaces
• The indicators of the hemispheres for the coordinates, must be expressed in the initial letter of the
hemisphere and in English in capital letters:
- "N" or "S" for latitude
- "E" or "W" for length
- The hemisphere can be placed before or after the position coordinates.

The heading and speed of the vessel at the time of the TEST shall be detailed as follows:
• The heading of the vessel shall be expressed in degrees between 0 to 359 and shall be preceded by the
words "Heading", "HDG", "Course" or "COG" and may be written in uppercase, lowercase or a
combination of both .
• The speed of the ship shall be expressed in knots and shall be preceded by the words "Speed", "SOG" or
"Spd" and then indicate one of the following terms "knots", "knts", "kn" or " kt "and may be written in
uppercase, lowercase or a combination of both.

TEST indicators should contain:

• Messages must include the word "TEST TEST".
• In case the message received does not contain the words "TEST TEST", the Panama Maritime Authority
will request confirmation to the CSO about the status of the ship, the crew and thus, in this way rule out
any case of false alarm.

All RSO’s must verify in the initial verification that the SSAS system is working properly,
performing a real TEST and sending it to [email protected] in order to confirm receipt.

CONFIRMATION MESSAGE OF THE ANNUAL SSAS TEST

SUSCCESFUL TEST when:

1. The Maritime Ships Security Department confirms the reception of the same in the date
scheduled in the Electronic Platform.

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 2. The TEST message includes all the information described in the Merchant Marine Circular
that will be issued for such purposes.

3. The general ship data such as: name, IMO number, call signs and MMSI numbers are correct,
as are the geographic coordinates and date received.

FAILED TEST: In the event that the test does not comply with the information above and shall be re-
scheduled through the platform in accordance with what is established in the fifth paragraph of this
Resolution.

PENDING TEST: In the event that the SSAS TEST cannot be carried out, and this must be notified by
email to the account [email protected] 24 hours in advance, the reasons and the new date of
programming through the platform.

In cases where the SSAS TEST cannot be performed due to technical problems of the equipment, it should
be communicated to the email: [email protected].
In cases of noncompliance with these regulations the Panama Maritime Authority may impose the
following sanctions:

1. The International Ship Security Certificate (ISSC) may be invalidated.

2. Additional audits of the ISPS Code may be authorized to vessels that demonstrate non-compliance
with the provisions of this Resolution.

For more information about these new regulations and check the compatibility of the equipment please
send an email to [email protected].

Training and Security Drills

14. The Ship Security Officer, the Company Security Officer and appropriate shore-based personnel
shall have knowledge and have received training, taking into account the guidance given in part B
of the ISPS Code. 3.5.1.1.

15. Shipboard personnel without designated security duties should receive security-related
familiarization training to be able to:
1. Report a security incident;

2. know the procedures to follow when they recognize a security threat; and

3. Take part in security-related emergency and contingency procedures.

16. Security drills must test the proficiency of vessel personnel in assigned security duties at all
maritime security levels and the effective implementation of the Ship Security Plan (SSP). They
must enable the Ship Security Officer (SSO) to identify any related security deficiencies that need
to be addressed.

17. The SSO must ensure that at least one security drill is conducted once every three months to
promote the effective implementation of the Ship Security Plan, except:

1. when a vessel is out of service due to repairs or seasonal suspension of operation provided that
in such cases a drill must be conducted within one week of the vessel's reactivation, or

2. if more than 25% of the crew is changed at any one time, with personnel that has not
previously participated in any drill on that ship within the last three months, a drill should be
conducted within one week of the change.

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 18. Security drills may be held in conjunction with non-security drills where appropriate. The
PMA accepts that a Safety Drill, which has a security component within it, can be credited as a
Security Drill.
19. Security drills must test individual elements of the SSP, including response to security threats and
incidents. Drills should take into account the types of operations of the vessel, vessel personnel
changes, and other relevant circumstances.
20. Shipboard drills should cover such scenarios as:
1. identification and search of unauthorized visitors on board the ship;
2. recognition of materials that may pose a security threat;
3. methods to deter attackers from approaching the ship;
4. recognition of restricted areas; and
5. mustering for evacuation.

Security Exercises

21. The Company Security Officer shall ensure the effective coordination and implementation of ship
security plans by participating in exercises at appropriate intervals.

22. Exercises should be carried out at least once each calendar year with no more than 18 months
between the exercises.

23. Exercises should test communications, coordination, resource availability, and response. Exercises
may be and not limited:

1. full scale or live;

2. table top simulation or seminar; or
3. combined with other exercises held such as search and rescue or emergency response
exercises.
Records
24. This Administration recommends all Panamanian flagged vessels to keep onboard records of the
above indicated testing, drills and exercises according to the period of time indicated in the SSP or the
time in the internal procedures of the Company. If is not duly stated in the mentioned documents,
then the records must be kept for a period of time equivalent to the duration of the International Ship
Security Certificate (5 years). These records must be protected from unauthorized access and may be
kept in any format (paper or electronic) and must be available for any Authority that requests it.

25. In this regard, a copy of the radio technician’s report, demonstrating compliance with SOLAS 74’, as
amended Chapter XI-2 Regulation 6 paragraphs #2 to #4 inclusive and MSC.1/Circ.1190, shall be
kept on board for use by the RSO at the next scheduled ISPS audit.

26. At subsequent ISPS verification, the RSO shall examine the records of activities on the SSAS
equipment, as specified in the ISPS Code A/10.1.10, witness a complete security alert test and
verifying the operational requirements and in the case of a SSAS.

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AUTHORIZATIONS FOR EXEMPTION
27. The PMA has designated the Company (according to the ISM Code definition) as the competent
authority to receive alerts, and shall notify to the Maritime Ships Security Department of this
Administration in case of any malfunction or set-up of the tracking system.

SSAS MALFUNCTIONING

28. In case of SSAS malfunctioning, the following documents shall be submitted to the Maritime
Ships Security Department to the e-mail address: [email protected] or through any of the
SEGUMAR Offices.
a). An e-mail or a letter issued by the RSO indicating the exact date and place where the
vessel will make the repair and programming of the SSAS equipment in accordance with
this MMC.
SSAS EQUIPMENT
29. For those Panamanian flagged vessel operating in coastal voyages or in national jurisdictional
waters, an exemption of the SSAS equipment can be requested to the Maritime Ships Security
Department and the following documents shall be submitted to the e-mail address:
[email protected] or through any of the SEGUMAR Offices:

a). A confirmation from the RSO stating the alternative methods to achieving an alert on
board, and
b). A formal statement by the Coastal State about vessel’s operational area.

It is worth noting that the time of validity of the exemption will be equal to the time of the working license
for such national jurisdictional waters.

For those Panamanian flagged vessels operating in international jurisdictional waters or international
coastal voyage must follow the national regulations in order to comply with the ISPS Code.

For further assistance and/or inquiries please note the following contact points:

A. Maritime Ships Security Department (weekdays 08:30-16:30 hrs)

Phone: +507-501-5037/5085
E-mail address: [email protected]

B. SEGUMAR Panama (Evenings, Weekends and Holidays)

Phone: +507-501-5350/48 or +507-501-5032
E-mail address: [email protected]

October 2017- Inclusion of paragraphs 2 and 3 in the New Regulations for SSAS TEST MESSAGE
October 2017 - Inclusion of Resolution No.106-107-DGMM (English version)
October 2017 – Changes all throughout the text
March 2016 – Change in paragraph 6
January 2016 – Changes throughout the text
October 2015- Changes in paragraph 12 and 13
August, 2014 – Changes throughout the text
September, 2013 - Changes in paragraph 7
June, 2013 - Changes in paragraph 12
May,2013 – New points 11 and 12
March, 2012 - Changes all throughout the text
February, 2004-First issuance

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