PCA Member Newsletter February 2021

Updates:- Covid Safety

On 26th January 2021 both myself and Simon Miles our vice chair Power were part of a team reviewing with MAIB the August 2020 fatal boat crash in Southampton with other industry partners. The report from MAIB is likely to be released in March this year .

We see now an area for urgent consideration for us all is related to life jacket fitting during the Covid Pandemic. As the pandemic is continuing and there is a possibility of our industry having to continue with covid secure measures this year.

Operators must have their own covid secure measures covering fitting of life jackets and risk assessments covering any covid measures implemented or with a decision to take action one way..

Best practice /guidance :- meet and greet from a distance and then place gloves and face masks on to issue jackets or ask passengers to collect their sanitised jackets from a box/location. A demonstration is then given on fitting in front of the passengers along with instructions on deployment.

The fitting and checking can safely be done by then adding additional visor face guard over the face covering.
This allows a safe way to have a close quarter check of the fitting including crutch straps and any adjustments needed to the lifejacket

This method shows best practice and allows safety checks to take place as required. The removal of visor guard then then take place and gloves and face coverings kept on until moving away from moorings with fresh air depending on your own company policies .

Each company is responsible for their own risk assessments. Clearly the wearing of any face coverings whilst operational will be a decision based upon a companies assessments of each risk.

Ian and Simon
Any questions about this area we can explain more if you drop either of us a line
chair@charterassociation.co.uk
ribs@charterassociation.co.uk

FREE ADVERTISING

We have recently found this advertising site for Charter boats. Up to ten images and loads of text .
Worth a try?
https://www.ahoymymatey.com/classifieds/category/25-charter-holidays?rootid=11

Supreme Court Ruling, Insurance cover and forced to closed due to Pandemic.

Claims under business interruption policies:-
Mid January saw the Supreme Court ruling on the eligibility of businesses to receive pay-outs from their insurer as a result of closure due to COVID-19.

The Supreme Court ruled that cover may be available for partial closure of premises (as well as full closure) and for mandatory closure orders that were not legally binding. The ruling also means that valid claims should not be reduced because financial losses would have resulted in any event from the pandemic.

As a result of the judgement, more policyholders that had Business Interruption insurance will have valid claims and some pay-outs will be higher.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will publish a set of Q&As for policyholders to help them and their advisers in understanding the test case. The FCA will also publish a list of policy types that are likely to be eligible in due course.

More information about the legal case can be found here https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/supreme-court-judgment-business-interruption-insurance-test-case

Check rules and cover here from FCA-- https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/business-interruption-insurance-policy-checker/general-faqs-policyholders?fbclid=IwAR09cM8pxKaCRzQVOQRUM19am1_cLuelqG9OUdjw7344iSKYCV4fM-NCFgs

2021 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEES.

We are approaching the new financial year and we are planning to be ahead of the game this year due to the AGM motion to suspend this years annual PCA member fees due to the continued COVID Pandemic.

It was agreed during the discussions and accepted that any member who wishes to make a payment that this will be allowed. Details of how we manage this will be sent out by Graeme Sign members@charterassociation.co.uk along with the 2021 boat stickers.

It will remind everyone at the same time to renew documentation for the charter boat register we now also run and is free to members but requires updated SCV2 docs to keep compliance. https://www.christensenlloyd.org/

Images for PCA website

We are always hunting around for best images for your home page of the website, we like to use member images. What have you got?
I know we definitely need a new RIB shot and a fishing vessel.
They need to be of high quality and the minimum size is 1900px across

CODING OF MOTOR VESSELS

Recently we became aware of a change that could affect older motor vessels on code.
It is noted that a change to coding of motor vessels came in recently requiring another heel test on motor vessels at intervals not exceeding 10 years – This would be at the second renewal.

This will form part of the recode of an existing vessel or a new code of a vessel purchased for chartering. Be aware of this as additional charges from the certifying authority have been added and I am sure some surveyors will add cost to carry out this despite being part of coding.

PCA (2014) LTD, PCA, Hamble Point Yachts Charters

HAMBLE POINT MARINA SCHOOL LANE,

HAMBLE, HAMPSHIRE SO31 4JD

United Kingdom

Reminder to make sure you reclaim excise duty on mineral oil used on commercial vessels.