Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) has issued MERCHANT MARINE CIRCULAR MMC-381 regarding U.S. pre-arrival checklist for Panamanian flagged vessels in order to decrease the detention number of vessels calling at U.S. ports as informed in ClassNK Technical Information No.TEC-1226 (dated 5 January 2021).
We received a notice that MMC-381 was updated from V.03 to V.04 due to partial modification of the aforementioned pre-arrival checklist.
In addition, for vessels calling at Australian ports, MERCHANT MARINE CIRCULAR MMC-393 has newly been issued with similar contents as MMC-381.
Accordingly, this Technical Information has newly been issued and supersedes the previous Technical Information No.TEC-1226.
The outline of the requirements in these circulars is as follows.

1. Panamanian flagged vessels calling at U.S ports or Australian ports are to prepare the checklist and send it to PMA (psc@amp.gob.pa) by the following deadlines, (i) or (ii).

(i) Ninety-six hours (96 hrs) before arrival at the port
(ii) For voyages with lasts less than 96 hours, at least twenty-four hours (24 hrs) before arrival at the port

2. For any equipment failures or other situations that cannot be resolved immediately, ship owners, operators, technical managers, DPA or the vessel's master are required to coordinate the effective corrective actions together with the Recognized Organization (ClassNK) and Segumar Offices. At the same time, they shall report to PSC Authority.

For details, please refer to the attached "MMC-381", "MMC-393" and "Pre-arrival checklist for Panama flagged vessels". They are also posted on the "Safety Management Systems (ISM)" section of our web site (HOME > Products & Services > Statutory Services > Safety Management Systems (ISM) > Circulars issued by Flag States).
Furthermore, when any similar instructions and/or amendments are received from the Administration in the future, the relevant information will be provided on the aforementioned web page as necessary.

(To be continued)