POST STATE CONTROL Archives - Page 15 of 21 - SHIP IP LTD

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) held its 55th Committee meeting in Bucharest, Romania from the 16th to the 20th of May 2022. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Brian Hogan.

After two years of virtual meetings, the Paris MoU was able to meet physically. Most of the members and observers enjoyed the face-to-face opportunity and of its positive impact on discussions and decision-making. Those who were not able to attend were given the opportunity to participate online.

Although the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to normalize within the region, a main element discussed was the ongoing impact of the pandemic on port State control. The Committee was of the opinion that such after-effects should be monitored and possible lessons to be learned from the pandemic and the way in which the Paris MoU has dealt with it should also be considered.

Following last year’s recognition by the Committee for a clear momentum to explore the need and feasibility of a port State control regime for fishing vessels, this year the Committee agreed to initiate a pilot project on port State control on fishing vessels of more than 24 meters. This is expected to result in the inspection of foreign fishing vessels by 2024. Participation of Paris MoU member Authorities will be on a voluntary basis. After the pilot, based on the information gathered, the Committee will decide on further actions regarding a possible future port State control regime for fishing vessels.

At the outset of the pandemic, as global travel restrictions prevented seafarers, port workers, and nautical inspectors from transiting borders to board vessels, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Registry quickly recognized the need for flexibility in conducting inspections and surveys. That flexibility led to protocols and procedures for remote inspections, which began 25 March 2020. While remote inspections are not a preferred method for crew or inspectors, they have been useful in maintaining oversight of safety operations during the pandemic and globally 925 have been conducted as of 25 January 2021 with around 24% conducted in the Asian region. In January 2021 the Asian region conducted over 90% of their inspections in person.

Protecting the safety of vessels and crew in a rapidly fluctuating world has required precision level coordination and communication between flag State inspectors, operators, crew, port State control (PSC) authorities, and local health officials. In the last several years, the Registry has invested in expanding technical and fleet operations capabilities worldwide. In addition to hiring leadership with Australian Maritime and Safety Administration (AMSA) experience, the Registry has also hired an inspector in Manila, and contracted with reliable third-party inspectors throughout Asia, increasing the number of regional inspection assets to more than 60. The geographic disbursement of the team has been critical in facilitating physical inspections during the pandemic.

“We’re planning ahead for inspections with the designated person ashore (DPA), however changes occur rapidly and frequently, so our team plans for a variety of inspection scenarios,” said Captain Sascha Dyker, Fleet Operations Manager (IRI Hong Kong). “Having a local inspector who can comply with changing guidance and understands the local authorities and situation has been critical,” he continued.

Source: register-iri

This research paper deals in three main sections. The first one is a brief overview of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), its annexes, and regulations, followed by section two with a brief overview of the Port State Control (PSC), and lastly, the third section deals with the interpretation of data extracted from the annual reports of the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to assess the effectiveness of MARPOL.

An analysis of MARPOL related deficiencies from all nine MoU has been designed. The annual reports for the past 11 years have been extracted and data relating to total inspections, total deficiencies, and deficiencies with regard to the MARPOL convention, distinguished as per annexes has been extracted and analysed using statistical tools to find out the level of implementation of the code. The extracted data has been categorized to find out the trend of the MARPOL-related deficiencies through the years and to find the annexes of MARPOL with most common and least common non-conformity.

Source: tandfonline

Abstract

Source: sciencedirect

It is hoped that private vaccinations will be available in most countries soon but until they are, caution should be used if vaccines are offered by private entities.

The shipping industry has worked with the relevant UN bodies and made representations to the COVAX scheme, particularly since many seafarers come from countries eligible for vaccines through that scheme.

“We encourage all seafarers to be vaccinated when offered the opportunity and continue to advocate for a common global, interoperable framework for recording test and vaccination status,” says BIMCO’s Secretary General and CEO, David Loosley.

Source: bimco

Reporting on the most important port, maritime, technical and engineering measures taken in Sistan and Baluchestan ports throughout last year, Behrouz Aghaei stated that Safe and uninterrupted maritime services to shipping lines and 24-hour port services during the outbreak of Corona virus in Sistan and Baluchestan ports were provided.

The Director General of Ports and Maritime Affairs of Sistan and Baluchestan added: Providing all safe and uninterrupted maritime services to shipping lines despite disruptions in comprehensive maritime systems and seafarers’ system and coronavirus virus pandemic conditions, reducing the response time of search and rescue operations by implementing the rescue plan on the east and west coasts of the province, reducing the maritime risk and increasing the satisfaction of shipping lines by repairing and enhancing the  canal of Shahid Kalantari port, setting the record of daily loading of goods to the ship at the rate of 15,500 tons per day, unloading and transporting 11,000 tons of bulk goods per day from the ship to destinations, providing 24-hour port services during the outbreak of Covid 19 virus were among the most important measures taken by the ports and maritime authority of Sistan and Baluchestan province within last year.

“In addition, an 83% increase in imports of basic commodities, a 381% increase in exportt, an 82-fold increase in the transit of goods from Chabahar port compared to the previous year, and concluding 4 investment contracts worth more than 25000 billion Rls. were other measures taken in this port throuout last year”, said The Director General of Ports and Maritime Affairs of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Source: pmo

Port state control (PSC) inspection acts as a safeguard against maritime accidents and marine environment pollution. Due to limited inspection resources and high inspection costs, port states can only select substandard ships with high risk for inspection. Therefore, efficient and accurate identification of substandard ships is important. This study reviews the current ship selection methods used in different ports and proposed in the existing literature, then discusses their advantages and disadvantages. Based on this review, a combined model for ship risk prediction considering ship deficiencies and detention is developed and validated in this study. Reasonable and comprehensive comparisons of the proposed combined model and the current ship selection method at the Port of Hong Kong are conducted. The comparison results provide managerial insights and suggestions for Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs). This study is the first to review the ship selection methods implemented in port states and proposed in the PSC inspection literature. It is also the first study to combine the number of ship deficiencies and the probability of detention in a unified model to calculate ship risk. This study is valuable for improving the efficiency of ship selection in MoUs and thus protecting maritime transport.

Source: tandfonline