The Analysis of the Deficiencies Resulting from Paris MoU PSC Inspections

Abstract

Substandard ships pose a significant threat to human life and the environment. Therefore, detecting deficiencies and removing such vessels from service is necessary, which is one of the port state control (PSC) inspection tasks. In addition, the role of PSC inspection is to improve safety at sea and in ports. To be up to the task, the States jointly created several memoranda to fight against substandard ships. The most frequent deficiencies detected on ships during Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) PSC inspections are analyzed in this paper. The analysis was made according to factors such as type of vessel, flag and the category to which deficiency belongs. Results revealed that most frequent deficiencies detected on ships, regardless of type or flag, come from International Safety Management (ISM) and fire protection. Furthermore, it is found that among the ten most frequent deficiencies, three are from the navigation safety category. Therefore, corrective actions to improve safety at sea are needed and presented.