Sufficient rest is important to avoid fatigue. MLC2006, and STCW since 2010 mandates that required rest last 24 hours must not be under 10 hours. Note that this applies for all possible 24-hour intervals while on board, not just from 00:00 to 24:00 every day.

As with the “rest last 24-hour”-rule, the MLC2006 and STCW2010 also mandate a minimum rest required for all 168-hour intervals (7 days). The minimum is 77 hours. This rule applies for all possible 168-hour intervals while on board.

Note a possible exception here, the STCW2010 can under certain circumstances allow for the minimum rest last 168 hours to be lowered to 70 hours. If so, this new minimum can be applied for up to two weeks. After that, a new exception is not allowed before twice the length of the original exception has passed. Meaning if you choose to use the exception for the maximum of two weeks, a minimum of 4 weeks without exception must pass before exception can be used again.

Note also that even if a sailor chooses to utilize the before mentioned exception, the rest of the rest hour rules (with possible exception of the maximum periods required rest can be divided into, see below) are still in force and must be followed.

To avoid fragmentation of rest, the general rule is that the required rest the last 24 hours can be divided into no more than 2 periods. As with the “rest last 24-hour”-rule, this also applies to all possible 24-hour intervals. This maximum of two rest periods only applies to the required minimum rest. Additional rest periods are allowed as long as required minimum rest follows the maximum 2 periods rule.

As with the “rest the last 168-hour”- rule, STCW2010 also allows for a possible exception with respect to maximum rest periods. For up to two weeks, required rest can be divided into three periods, none of which shorter than 1 hour. This is also limited by the same 2-week maximum rule as the “rest last 168-hour”-rule, meaning that exception can only be used for up to 2 weeks, and after which a minimum of twice the period without the exception must follow. The exception does not exempt sailors from the rest of the rest regulation rules, these must still be followed.

To ensure enough continuous rest, MLC2006 requires that one of the rest periods for the required rest is minimum 6 hours long. Hence, even though two rest periods of 5 hours each are within the minimum rest requirement for the last 24 hours, it is not in compliance with the minimum rest length regulation.

To avoid sailor fatigue, sailors may only work for up to 14 hours straight. In order words, there can be no more than 14 hours between any two rest periods.