Does my vessel need to be in the Maritime Operator Safety System (MOSS) regime or can it stay in Safe Ship Management (SSM)?

SSM was replaced by MOSS in July 2014. Maritime Rule Part 19 governs MOSS and includes transitional provisions for vessels that held valid SSM certificates prior to the implementation of MOSS. Current and valid SSM Certificates are generally deemed to be Maritime Transport Operator Certificates (MTOC) and exist until such time as the vessel is required to enter MOSS. Simply put, for single vessel operations the vessel and operations will be required to enter MOSS 'proper' when the SSM Certificate (deemed MTOC) expires. For multi-vessel operations at the expiration of the earliest SSM Certificate (deemed MTOC) the entire fleet will be required to enter into MOSS. That said there is the ability for an operator to seek an exemption from MNZ (in appropriate situations) and stage the entry of its fleet into MOSS.