NMA goes digital with certificate issue

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has issued its first electronic vessel certificate.

CLC and CLB certificates are the first certificates to be issued electronically. The purpose of these certificates is to document that the company carries adequate insurance to cover any claim of compensation for damage caused by oil spills.

Electronic certificates are issued from 29 November 2019 and will be of great value for shipping companies, insurance companies and the NMA. 

Toralv Austrheim, captain on board the MS Utsira, says: 

“This is exclusively positive and ensures us an enhanced document control."

It is no longer necessary to keep hard copies of documents on board, because the documents will be available in the web portal My Vessels. 

The automation of certificates will improve the quality of data. Eventually, when the solution is fully automated, this will give us the opportunity to issue CLB and CLC certificates 24/7.

Jorunn Lindøe, Senior Adviser at the IT section of the NMA, says:

“By using this system, the companies will save time on administrative tasks associated with the certificates, and they will also have digital access to the certificates.”

The system has raised great interest internationally, and many would like the Norwegian model to become an international standard. The project has already been presented to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), where it was well received.