Rest hours
Rest-hour records for STCW and MLC 2006
Hours of rest is the area most likely to be technically satisfied and evidentially weak at the same time. CruiseControl records rest against the crew record as it happens, computes the rolling totals continuously, and keeps the entry available onboard whether or not there is bandwidth.
The requirement
What STCW and MLC 2006 actually ask for
STCW sets minimum rest for anyone with watchkeeping duties: at least 10 hours in any 24-hour period and at least 77 hours in any 7-day period. The 10 may be split into no more than two periods, one of which must be at least 6 hours, and the interval between consecutive rest periods is capped. MLC 2006 covers the same ground from the employment side, requires that records are kept, and requires that each seafarer receives a copy of their own.
The shape matters more than the numbers. These are rolling limits, not daily ones. A day that reads as compliant in isolation can still break a 7-day total, and a split that looks reasonable can breach the minimum-block rule. Neither is something a person scanning a sheet catches reliably, and neither is something a monthly reconciliation catches in time to act on.
Which is why the recording method decides the outcome. A record assembled after the voyage answers an auditor. A record produced during it answers the master, and only one of those changes anything. The longer argument is in rest-hour records that hold up when someone checks.
Recorded at the source
Rest is entered onboard, at the time, by the person or watch system that knows. The distance between the event and the entry is what decides whether the record is evidence or reconstruction.
Rolling totals, computed continuously
STCW limits are rolling rather than daily. A day that looks fine alone can still break a 7-day total, so the totals are recalculated as entries land instead of at month end.
A breach shows up as a warning
An approaching limit is visible while a rotation decision is still available, which is the difference between fatigue management you do and fatigue management you report.
Each seafarer sees their own
MLC 2006 requires seafarers receive a copy of their record. It is also the only reliable error correction there is: the person who was actually there, disagreeing with an entry.
How it works
From the entry to the inspection
Four steps, and the first one is the only one that is hard: getting the entry made close enough to the event that it is worth something later.
Capture, with or without a link
Entries are written onboard first. The periods of heaviest workload are frequently the periods furthest from coverage, so recording cannot depend on reaching shore.
Reconcile against the roster
An entry made in open water and a roster change made ashore converge into one record rather than competing, so the version onboard and the version ashore agree.
Compute and warn
Rolling 24-hour and 7-day totals update as entries arrive, including the minimum-block and interval rules that a person scanning a sheet does not reliably catch.
Produce it on the day
The record an inspector asks for is the same one the master has been using all voyage, held against the crew record and available from onboard.
In context
Rest hours are one record among several
Rest hours sit on the same crew record as certificates, endorsements and training history, which is what makes the whole set producible at once. An inspector rarely asks for hours alone; they ask for the documentary picture of a seafarer, and a fleet that holds those in four systems reconciles them under time pressure.
Related: the port state control checklist, why the record has to work without a connection, what each module does, and how the records are controlled.