Panama MMC-379: The Actual PSC Rulebook Your Panama-Flagged Ship Operates Under

What MMC-379 Actually Is

Merchant Marine Circular MMC-379, issued by the Panama Maritime Authority's General Directorate of Merchant Marine, is Panama's formal adoption of IMO Resolution A.1155(32) – the Procedures for Port State Control, 2021. It isn't a Panama-invented rule; it's the flag state's own domestic transmittal of the current global PSC rulebook, and it applies to every Panama-flagged vessel, not a specific vessel-type subset. It supersedes Panama's earlier transmittal of the 2019 procedures (Resolution A.1138(31)). This is still the operative framework – there's no later Panama circular replacing it – so it's worth actually knowing what it says, not just that it exists.

Who It's Addressed To

The circular is addressed to Recognized Organizations, ship owners and operators, legal representatives of Panamanian-flagged vessels, Panamanian Merchant Marine consulates, Segumar regional offices, and PSC inspectors themselves – in other words, everyone on both sides of a PSC inspection is meant to be working from the same procedures.

The Legal Basis

MMC-379 grounds its authority in SOLAS, Load Lines, MARPOL, STCW, the 1969 Tonnage Convention, the AFS Convention 2001, and the Ballast Water Management Convention 2004's control provisions – plus the III Code, the ISM Code's PSC guidelines, MLC 2006's PSC guidelines, electronic certificate guidelines, and the Code of Good Practice for PSC Officers. If a deficiency is raised against your vessel, it traces back to one of these instruments, not an inspector's personal judgement call.

Key Definitions Worth Knowing

• Clear grounds – evidence that the ship, its equipment, or its crew doesn't substantially comply with a convention's requirements, or that the master/crew isn't familiar with essential shipboard procedures.
• Deficiency – a condition found not to comply with convention requirements.
• Detention – intervention to prevent a ship from sailing due to a confirmed deficiency, singularly or combined, that makes the ship unseaworthy.
• Substandard ship – a ship whose hull, machinery, equipment, or operational safety is substantially below the standard required by the relevant convention, or whose crew doesn't correspond with the safe manning document.