Consequential realities of owning and operating a vessel : Passenger Yacht Code (PYC)introduction
After recognition of the ever-increasing size of superyachts and the wish to carry more passengers, the Passenger Yacht Code (PYC) was introduced for private and commercial yachts wanting to carry up to 36 passengers.
The Code covers technical, safety and operational standards for yachts and has rules that are more relevant to the nature of yachting. Since its implementation, the Code has been a valuable vehicle for commercial and private yachts that want to be able to carry more than 12 passengers, and there are a number of yachts now operating successfully under the PYC. However, the Code does impose some complicated restrictions for the manning of a PYC-compliant vessel and there have been alleged difficulties for these yachts with regards to meeting the increased manning requirements while, at the same time, providing the high level of safety and service expected across all departments by the owner.
Compliance with the PYC impacts a yacht’s Minimum Safe Manning Document (MSMD). When a vessel is registered under the PYC, the number of crew required by the MSMD is significantly higher than when the same vessel is registered under the LY3. Under the PYC, the MSMD for the yacht requires a minimum crew of 15, of which there needs to be seven for navigation, seven engineers, and one crew cook. While the employment cost difference is significant, that can be written off as a cost of business. What cannot be solved without affecting an owner’s useable space or technical and storage space is the accommodation of PYC MSMD MLC officers, especially impacting yachts under approximately 120m or under approximately 3,000gt. Therefore, a PYC-compliant vessel has the potential to carry more guests, has a greater volume of interior space, more technical demands, increased deck and exterior spaces to maintain, extra tenders and toys and guest services, higher hotel service demands and more regulated operational requirements.
On a PYC-compliant yacht, the master, and officers should have STCW qualifications at the appropriate level, with an exception that for yachts less than 3,000gt, yacht qualifications can be considered for junior deck and engineering watch-keeping officers subject to Flag approval and any limitations that may be imposed. So with the stringent requirements for crew with commercial unlimited tickets under the Code, are there enough qualified and skilled captains and crew available to run these yachts? And if these vessels are to rely on commercial crew to make the transition into yachting to meet the demand, what incentive is there for them to do so given that rotation packages are more common and generous in the commercial sector?
It appears that the biggest issue for yachts being built under the PYC is to ensure there is sufficient crew accommodation so that the service side of the yacht is not compromised due to more stringent safety requirements. While additional crew space can be considered as valuable lost guest areas, the owners’ or guests’ experience must not be compromised due to a lack of deck and interior crew. Because safety is paramount and the minimum safe manning is crucial to that, the quality of the onboard experience comes in second, therefore a balanced and proper manning of these yachts should be considered as one of the many consequential realities of owning and operating a vessel with the capability to carry up to 36 guests.
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