SHIPCREW  

Article 38  

Shipcrew shall consist of shipmaster, officers and other persons working on board within the ships complement, hereinafter referred to as crew.

Article 39  

Crew working on board Vietnamese sea-going vessels should be Vietnam citizens. Vietnamese crew may be permitted to work on board foreign sea-going vessels and foreign crew-on board Vietnamese sea-going vessel subject to provisions of the Minister of Transport and Communications.
 
Article 40  

Crew working on board Vietnamese sea-going vessel should have sufficient certificates of health and certificates of competency as provided for by the Minister of Transport and Communications.

Article 41  

Crew working on board Vietnamese sea-going vessels are bound to carry out their duties in conformity with their ranks.

Minister of Transport and Communications shall define ranks, ranking duties and disciplines applied to crew working on board Vietnamese sea-going vessel. Such ranks, ranking duties and disciplines applied to crew working on board sea-going vessels exclusively employed for exploitation and processing of sea products shall be defined by the Minister of Fishery.

The owner of vessel shall define those ranks, ranking duties and disciplines applied to crew which are not yet provided for by the Minister of Transport and Communications and Minister of Fishery.

Article 42

Labour regulations, duties and rights of Vietnamese crew working on board Vietnamese sea-going vessels are subject to the laws in force in Vietnam.

 In case Vietnamese crew must leave the vessel as ordered by the shipowner or the shipmaster, the shipowner is bound to cover living and traveling costs necessary for sending back crew to the place laid down in the contract of labour or to the port where crew joined the vessel unless otherwise stipulated in the contract of labour.

When the loss of or damage to the legitimate own properly of crew is caused by accident occurred to the vessel, shipowner is bound to compensate such property as per market price ruling at the place and time where the accident is settled. If the accidents has occurred by approximate cause on the part of crew, they loose the right to claim for loss of or damage.

Labour regulation on obligations and interests of the Vietnamese crew working onboard the foreign sea-going vessels, and of foreign crew-on board Vietnamese sea-going vessels, is defined on the basis of recruitment agreements.

Article 43

The master exercises the highest command of the vessel. All persons on board the vessel are bound to conform to the orders given by the master.

Article 44

The master must not leave the vessel which is on her course or in danger unless that is required by an absolute necessity.

The master is bound to be in personal command of the vessel when leaving, entering ports, canals and river navigable ways as well as when the vessel under his command is operating within port waters areas and in any case involving special difficulty or danger.

The master is bound to employ the services of a pilot or of a tug boat where such services are required by regulations of for the safety of the vessel.

The employment of the services of pilots does not relieve the master of the obligation laid down in item 2 of this Article.

Article 45

The master is bound to exercise due diligence of a conscientious shipmaster when carrying out his obligations pertaining to service activities.

Before the commencement of and during a voyage the master is bound to take due care that the vessel in every necessary respect be seaworthy, and comply with the professional principles of goods seamanship and with the regulations as regards the adequate equipments, ships hull, proper manning and other respects relating to marine navigation safety for the vessel and people on board.

The master is entitled not to let the vessel commence the voyage if he has grounds to ascertain that the vessel under his command has insufficient necessary conditions of seaworthiness.

The master is empowered to keep the crew under his command to follow the disciplines or to give the reward to them; to refuse to recruit or to force to leave his ship those crew who are unqualified in ranks assigned to them or who have broke the disciplines.

Article 46

The master is bound o take due care that the cargo be properly loaded, stowed and preserved, discharged even though such operations have been entrusted to persons who are bound to be engaged in such activities.

The master is bound to take due care that the cargo be not damaged or lost; to take such action as may be necessary to protect the interests of persons interested in the cargo; to use all possible means to inform them of particular occurrences concerning the cargo.

Article 47

The master is bound to take all necessary measures to protect the vessel, persons and other properties on board.

In the event of a danger of war or blockade at the port of destination the master is bound to call at the nearest safe port and to take all necessary measure to protect the vessel, persons, properties and documents of the vessel.

In case the vessel is threatened with sinking or with destruction the master is bound to take all available measure to save first the passenger and them the crew.

The master is the last to leave the vessel after he has made use of all means possible to save the log-books, charts, other documents of the vessel, high valuable objects and money belonging to the vessel.

Article 48  

The master is bound to search and rescue persons in the distress if the carrying out of this obligation does not create any serious danger to his vessel and persons on board. The owner of the vessel is exempted from liability in case the master fails to do such obligation.

The master of a vessel being in sea distress has the right to demand his vessel be saved, and after consultation with vessels which answered his call for assistance, to indicate which vessel is to render his salvage.

Article 49

When handling ordinary matters incident to the performance of navigation and of the ordinary management of the vessel and cargo, the master is the representative of the shipowner and of the parties having interests in the cargo.

Within the limits laid down in item 1 of this Article, the master may, in the name of the shipowner and the parties having interests in the cargo, while away from the home port, perform legal acts, and he may sue and take part in legal proceedings before courts, unless the shipowner and the parties having interests in the cargo declare limitation of the whole of part of the authority. As regards third parties, this limitation of the masters statutory authority has legal effect only in so far as they have been aware of it.

Article 50

If necessary, the master of a vessel, while away from the home port, is empowered to loan in credit terms, or in the name of the shipowner to borrow cash but only within the limits of sufficiency to reapair the vessel, to complement crew, to supply the vessel or to satisfy other requirements so that the voyage can be continued.

Within the limits laid down in item 1 of this Article the master is also even entitled to sell superfluous appurtenances of the vessel or surplus reserves where it is inexpedient or impossible to wait for instructions or funds from the shipowner.

During a voyage, if means necessary for its completion cannot be obtained in any other way, the master-after having, by all means, sought instructions from the charterers and the shipowner but failed-is entitled to pledge or even sell a part of the cargo.

When deciding on means for raising funds necessary for the completion of a voyage, the master is bound to narrow, at the lowest level, the prejudice to the shipowner and the parties having interests in the cargo.

Article 51

Where on a vessel ,while on voyage, the reserved provisions and foods have run out, the master has the right to requisite a part of cargo being provisions and foods carried on board, and in the case of utmost necessity, to requisite provisions and food from persons on board. This requisition should be inserted in a writing protocol.

The shipowner is bound to compensate for the food and provisions requisitioned.

Article 52

In respect of each case of birth or death or other occurrences on board during the voyage, the master is bound to make an entry in the ships log-book and drew up a protocol in presence of ships medical person and two witnesses. The master is bound to make an inventory list of property left by the person died on board and put his property under his custody.

The master is bound to report births or deaths occurring on board and deliver testaments, inventory list of property of the deceased to the Competent Registrar Office in the first Vietnamese port at which the vessel called, or the authorized diplomatic representative or consulate of Vietnam abroad if this port is a foreign port.

After having tried to seek all means possible to ask for instructions from the shipowner and for opinion of the relatives of the deceased the master, in the name of the shipowner, pursue funeral procedures and bury the dead.

All the relevant fees are paid in conformity with the provisions of regulations and law.

Article 53

In the event of offence committed on board, the master is bound to:

• Take all the necessary means for preventing, draw up files as provided for by virtue of status;

• Secure evidence and, according to the specific circumstance, to hand over the offender together with the relevant documents to the competent authority of Vietnam at the first Vietnamese port the ship has called at, or while on a voyage, to a warship of the Vietnamese Armed forces encountered on sea, or to inform the authorized diplomatic representative or consulate of Vietnam abroad and to act according to the instruction given by them.

If necessary, the master is empowered to confine to a separate compartment any person whose conduct on board endangers the safety and public order of the vessel and persons on board and cargo carried on board.

Article 54

On arriving of the vessel at a foreign port the master is bound to advise the authorized diplomatic representative or consular mission of Vietnam of the vessels arrival unless it is impossible to render such advice.

The master is bound to produce, on demand by the authorized diplomatic representative or consulate of Vietnam the vessels documents.

Article 55

Immediately after occurring or detection of marine accidents or special occurrences relating to marine navigation safety in the sea where the ship is operating, the master is bound to report same to the competent authorities of the nearest place.

When on a voyage the marine accident or total loss occurred after calling at the Vietnamese first port, the master is bound to fully report to the Vietnamese competent authorities in charge of management of marine navigation safety of such events. The master and he persons involved may be interviewed by such authorities if necessary.

Marine accidents as referred to in the present Code are accidents caused by collisions and by other troubles relating to the vessel given rise to death or body injury, to damage to the vessel, to sinking, destruction, getting fire, running aground or environmental pollution.

Article 56

When the vessel, persons or cargo carried on board are damaged or lost on account of accident or when having grounds for suspecting the occurrence of such damage or loss, the master is bound to file a sea protest, and latest within twenty four hours of an accident which has occurred in port, or within twenty four hours of the vessels arrival at the first port the master is bound to submit the sea-protest to the competent authority for certifying this submission.

The Minister of Transport and Communications shall determine the competent authority having the power to certify the submission of the sea-protest in Vietnam, the order and procedures for certifying in the sea-protest.

When a vessel is operating abroad the master submits the sea protest to the authorized diplomatic representative or consulate of Vietnam abroad or the local competent authority for certifying this submission.