Hours of rest software: honest STCW and MLC records without the paperwork
What good hours of rest software does: rolling STCW rest checks as hours are entered, in-app breach flags, and records ready for PSC or MCA inspection.
Every Master knows the routine. At the end of the month someone sits down with a stack of hours-of-rest sheets, fills in the gaps from memory and makes sure the columns add up. The record looks perfect. It is also of little use to anyone, because a breach found three weeks later cannot be prevented.
Hours of rest software changes this. Hours are recorded as the days go, the system checks the rolling limits as they are entered, and the Master and the office can see a problem while there is still time to change the watch rota. This guide covers what the rules require, why regulators are paying close attention to rest records, and what to look for in a digital system for a small or mid-sized fleet.
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A timely warning from Australia
On 3 November 2026 the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it had detained the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Wooyang Venus and banned it from Australian ports for 90 days. AMSA said its inspectors found crew work and rest records had been deliberately falsified to mask excessive hours worked. The port State control inspection in Newcastle on 29 October followed a Maritime Labour Convention complaint, and AMSA said the ship had been detained twice before with falsified or incorrect work and rest records as a contributing factor (AMSA).
AMSA’s point is simple: accurate records are what show that minimum rest is being met and fatigue is being managed. A rest record that does not match the work actually done is a liability, not a defence.
The rules in one minute: 10 hours, 77 hours, two periods
In the UK the rest-hour limits are set by the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Hours of Work) Regulations 2018 and explained in MSN 1877 (M) Amendment 2. MSN 1877 says the Regulations implement the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 rules on hours of work and rest, and regulation VIII/1 of the STCW Convention. The minimums are:
- 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period
- 77 hours of rest in any 7-day period
- daily rest divided into no more than two periods, one of at least 6 hours, and MSN 1877 says the interval between rest periods must be no more than 14 hours
MSN 1877 also requires a table of hours of rest to be posted on board and records of hours of rest to be kept. The records must be completed at least monthly in arrears, endorsed by the master or an authorised person and by the seafarer, with a copy given to the seafarer, and kept for at least one year. Musters and drills during rest periods must be run in a way that minimises disturbance and does not induce fatigue, and a seafarer whose rest is disturbed by a call-out must get adequate compensatory rest (Hours of Work Regulations 2018, regulation 5).
UK fishing vessels have their own regime. MSN 1884 (F) Amendment 1 sets minimum rest of 10 hours in any 24 hours and 77 hours in any 7 days for fishermen, and explains how owners should keep records showing that fishermen are getting adequate rest.
Domestic operators: MSN 1877 says the 2018 Regulations apply to seafarers on seagoing ships, and do not apply to seafarers who are subject to the separate inland waterways working time regulations (MSN 1876 (M)). If your vessels work only in UK categorised waters, check which regime applies to your crews before you set up any rest-hour system.
The IMO and ILO jointly developed guidelines on formats for records of hours of work or rest (IMO: seafarers’ hours of work and rest). They say record formats “should allow any non-conformities to be identified”, and that forms should be completed for each seafarer and signed by the seafarer and the master or another designated officer (IMO/ILO Guidelines). Spotting non-conformities is the job software does far better than paper.
Why “perfect” paper rest sheets are a red flag
In October 2026 the Sustainable Shipping Initiative published From Welfare to Risk, a review of 68 sources on crew welfare. According to Splash247’s coverage, it found fatigue to be the most extensively documented risk factor, and warned that understaffing and excessive workloads encourage the falsification of rest-hour records. It also found that between a quarter and a third of seafarers do not feel safe raising concerns or reporting mistakes.
For a DPA or HSQE manager the conclusion is uncomfortable. A month of identical, fully compliant rest sheets is not proof that the crew is rested. It may be proof that nobody feels able to write down the truth.
Hours of rest software does not fix culture on its own. What it can do is make honest recording easier: hours go in on the day, the system shows the consequence straight away, and the Master can adjust the rota before a breach happens rather than after.
What inspectors find
Port State Control has run concentrated campaigns on this topic. In the Paris MoU’s concentrated inspection campaign on STCW hours of rest, run from September to November 2014, the questionnaire was completed during 4,041 inspections. Hours of rest were not recorded correctly in 449 cases (about 11%), watchkeeping personnel did not have sufficient rest in 203 cases (about 5%), and 16 ships were detained as a direct result of the campaign (Maritime Executive report on the 2014 campaign). Those figures are now more than ten years old, but the pattern has held.
In the Tokyo MoU’s 2022 concentrated inspection campaign on STCW, the question with the highest ratio of “No” answers was “Do the records for hours of rest indicate compliance with the requirements?” (Tokyo MoU 2022 CIC on STCW report).
Crews are usually properly certificated. The rest record is where findings cluster.
What good hours of rest software should do
Record hours on the day, on board, even offline
If entering hours means walking to the ship’s office PC, it will be done in batches at the end of the week. Look for a quick editor (half-hour blocks are a sensible resolution) that saves entries offline and syncs when the vessel is back in range. On a workboat or crew transfer vessel with patchy signal, offline is not a nice-to-have.
Rolling 24-hour and 7-day checks as hours are entered
The hard part of the rules is that the windows roll. “Any 24-hour period” means every 24-hour window, not just midnight to midnight. Doing this by hand is where spreadsheets fail. The software should run the calculation on every entry and flag a breach as soon as it appears.
Watch and shift presets that reflect how the vessel works
Most vessels run predictable patterns: 6-on/6-off, 4-on/8-off or 12-hour day shifts. Presets let you load the normal pattern and then edit it for what actually happened, such as a call-out, a drill or a late berthing. That keeps entry fast and the record honest.
Confirmation, locked periods and an audit trail
Crew should confirm their own hours, and any later change should leave a visible trail of who changed what, when and why. Reviewed periods should be locked. This protects the crew member, the Master and the company, and it is what makes a digital record more trustworthy than a tidy paper sheet.
Shore visibility without phoning round
The DPA, crewing manager or superintendent should be able to see open rest-hour issues from the office, rather than waiting for scanned sheets at month end.
Exports an inspector can read
When a PSC officer or MCA surveyor asks for the record, you need a clean PDF with non-conformities clearly marked, without an hour in Excel to produce it.
Workboats, crew transfer vessels and fishing: the small-fleet angle
Small operators have mostly been left with paper or a homemade spreadsheet, even though their crews often work the most irregular hours: weather-driven transfers, tidal windows and night-time aquaculture work.
Small fleets have three particular needs:
- Fast setup. Crew should be recording rest within days, not after a long project.
- The right rule set. A company may run seagoing workboats under the 2018 Hours of Work Regulations alongside fishing vessels under MSN 1884 (F) or domestic craft under other working time rules. Check which regime applies to each vessel, and check which rules any software actually tests.
- One record with everything else. Rest hours sit next to crew certificates, safe manning, drills and maintenance. When they are in one system, the Master can see that a drill on Tuesday night cost a deckhand their 10 hours and plan Wednesday accordingly.
If you are working towards the Workboat Code Edition 3 transition deadline of 13 December 2026 (GOV.UK: Check. Prepare. Book.), a clean, auditable rest record is one more piece of evidence that your safety management works in practice.
Making the switch from paper: a four-week plan
- Week 1: one vessel, one rota. Set up the crew list and the normal watch or shift pattern on a single vessel. Ask the Master to choose one officer to champion it.
- Week 2: daily entry. Hours go in each day. The Master reviews flags daily rather than monthly.
- Week 3: office review. The DPA or crewing manager checks open issues and the first locked periods, and agrees how non-conformities are recorded, endorsed and closed.
- Week 4: roll out and retire the paper. Add the remaining vessels, update the SMS procedure to reference the digital record, and stop the paper sheets.
The goal is not zero flags. A system that never flags anything is probably being fed fiction. The goal is that every flag is seen, explained and acted on.
How WaterTightVM handles hours of rest
WaterTightVM is vessel management software built by a Master Mariner for small and mid-sized fleets. Its Work & Rest Hours module, included in the Starter plan and above, gives you:
- a 30-minute block editor with shift and watch pattern presets
- a rolling compliance engine that checks the STCW A-VIII/1 limits: at least 10 hours of rest in any 24 hours, in no more than two periods with one of at least 6 hours, no more than 14 hours between rest periods, and at least 77 hours in any 7 days
- in-app breach flags: violation badges, a list of rest-hour issues and a non-compliance PDF export
- confirmation and an audit trail: crew confirm their recorded hours, officers confirm or edit them, and every officer edit needs a reason that goes in the audit trail
- locked periods and PDF export for port State control and internal review
- a dashboard card showing open violations across the company’s vessels over the last 7 days, with the detailed view per vessel
Hours are confirmed in the HoR tab of the crew app or on the web. The crew app saves entries offline and syncs when connectivity returns. The iOS crew app is currently in TestFlight beta, and tablets can use the installable web app.
A few things it does not do, so you can plan around them. WaterTightVM checks the STCW A-VIII/1 limits only; the MLC labels in the app show those same limits rather than a separate rule set, and there are no fishing-vessel rules. It does not send push or email alerts when a breach happens; push and email reminders go out when hours have not been recorded or a day needs review. It does not capture a formal signature or master countersign, so endorse the record in line with your flag state’s requirements.
Because it is one platform, hours of rest sit alongside crew management and safe manning, certificate compliance, callback and overtime, drills and exercises and the wider safety management system.
WaterTightVM calculates and flags against the STCW A-VIII/1 limits to help you manage rest. Rostering decisions and regulatory compliance remain the responsibility of the operator.
For more on getting ready for audits, read how to reduce audit findings and how to eliminate spreadsheet vessel management.
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Sources
- AMSA bans vessel over repeatedly falsifying seafarer hours of work and rest records, 3 November 2026
- Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Hours of Work) Regulations 2018, regulation 5 and regulation 6
- MSN 1877 (M) Amendment 2, GOV.UK
- MSN 1884 (F) Amendment 1, GOV.UK
- IMO/ILO Guidelines on records of hours of work or rest
- IMO: seafarers’ hours of work and rest
- Maritime Executive: Paris MoU 2014 STCW hours of rest campaign results
- Tokyo MoU 2022 CIC on STCW report
- Splash247: coverage of the SSI From Welfare to Risk report
- GOV.UK: Workboat Code Edition 3 deadline